Fallout: Supremacy One
by eaglescorch
Summary: The Courier, John Hollister, has walked the Lonesome Road, met Honest Hearts, secured a fortune in Dead Money, lifted Old World Blues, and waged war for New Vegas's independence against mighty super powers. Now, three years later, when a far more dangerous enemy looms, threating all he cares about in the wasteland. John may discover that his greatest ally is his oldest foe...
1. Another Day, Another Mass Murderer

I do not own the rights to Fallout, it is simply a story for my favorite franchise.

Fallout: Supremacy One

Chapter 1

Another Day, Another Mass Murderer.

The heat of the Mojave beat down on the town of Primm, as the people went about their daily lives. The men and woman of the town going to the casino, drinking and gambling. The Nash's and sheriff Primm Slim, were greeting traders and travelers on their way through the town and up to New Vegas, now free of NCR oppression, Legion brutality and Mr. House's tyranny, as well as welcoming them in for New Vegas Independence Day. One of these travelers, however, had stayed in the town for a few days not trading not communicating with anyone and it was making some people nervous. Complaints were piling up about how he had been hanging around inside the casino messing with the slot machines as well as seeing him near the backs of houses tinkering with old power boxes and air conditioners. Other than that he had never come out of his room at the now reopened Bison Steve Hotel. They were right to be nervous. The traveler, Reginald Fergus, seemed to know a little too much about the region despite claiming he had come from up north, from the Idaho Roads south through Utah, and into the area searching for a place to set up a business . More concerning was he was in possession of several cases with pre-war military markings all over them, as well as a Pip-Boy that seemed far different from any others. The man sat in his room listening to a tape, the same tape over and over again.

"You know your mission, the targets have been chosen, and you are the vanguard of things to come. At 2:03 in the afternoon of the 9th of April 2285, the settlers in the town of Primm will be holding a celebration in honor of the anniversary of the Battle of Hoover dam and New Vegas's independence. That is when we make our move. Leave the town and set everything in motion. Then precede to the rendezvous spot and execute the plan. Once it has begun, not even the Courier will be able to stop us. Farewell."

The man looked at the clock on his Pip-Boy: April 9th 2285, 1:56. He picked up one of his cases and made his way downstairs and out the door.

2:01

He could see people going to the Vikki and Vance and heard Johnson Nash making a speech. He didn't hear it through the doors and walls, in mere moments none of it would matter anyway.

2:02

He made his way across the bridge and just outside the town grabbing something out of his pocket: a Detonator.

2:03

He activated the detonator. Back in town at least for a few moments everyone heard clicking and then were deafened by the sheer screaming sound of fiery explosions, triggered by the C4 explosives that had been planted all over the town. At that exact moment, down to the minute at which New Vegas had declared independence, an entire town under New Vegas's banner was wiped of the map.

Reginald stood at the edge of the destruction and sent a highly coded radio transmission to a receiver on the edge of the country: the Prelude has been successful. Proceeding with the Plan.


	2. Message Recieved

Chapter 2

Message received

Unaware of the bombings, The Courier, John Hollister, sat with his advisors in the Lucky 38 penthouse, each of which were talking about the current situations in the Mojave and surrounding areas. While he would much rather be off on an adventure, fighting the NCR or Legion, or exploring new frontiers, he was still sitting in that chair as he did every other Monday. It seemed there was little excitement for him recently, with Lanius not only rebuilding the legion but even reforming certain aspects of it, such as woman not being allowed to serve. That had become obvious when his current legate was a woman. He respected Lanius for that but still kept his eyes wide open. He knew Lanius would make good on his promise to attack the Mojave. As for the New California Republic it had become an empty threat. Since they had lost the Mojave as well as General Oliver, they had been trying to appease John from attacking them, having given New Reno and Vault City over to them, escorting the Brotherhood and Circle of Steel survivors as well as the Followers of the Apocalypse, their technology and all, into New Vegas territory. They had even given up the Gun Runners, Crimson Caravan, and Van Graff trading companies over to New Vegas. All of this despite John's promise not to attack his home nation. The massive amount of appeasement they had given New Vegas made the NCR fall into a state of madness. With a civil war on the horizon and martial law declared, the NCR had become a dying two-headed bear. It was too late for them: they were going to collapse; there was no way to avoid it now. They couldn't even get refugees into New Vegas, the long 15 was gone, destroyed by John and Ulysses, who had launched the missiles into their histories. Destroying the roads they had walked to reach the Mojave: The Long 15 and Dry Wells. The only way in for the NCR now was the old north highway a two month journey to get to New Vegas from The Hub and another two months to get back. John hadn't even spoken to Ulysses in almost a year; they were holding each other at an icy distance. the New Vegas Confederacy had become a phoenix for America, a place for it to be reborn, and for a new world to prosper. Even so Ulysses didn't see it and for three years hadn't seen it happen yet. Maybe one day he would.

John continued to wait there at the table knowing he would have to get to work sooner or later. He had just been sitting there spacing out when he finally got a wakeup call. The wakeup call was in the form of Veronica's power glove. He felt himself go flying as it hit him. He jumped up off the floor looking around to see an angry veronica.

"WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING!" She screamed.

"Oh sorry no, I'm a little tired… What were you saying?" John managed to get that out as he hoped back in his chair.

"I was saying that Joshua Graham want you to sign these finalization papers for the annexation of the Utah Area." Veronica said. "This is really important, John, three years as a nation and were finally getting some major territory." Raul cut in before she could say anything else.

"Wait, I thought we got major territory before?" Raul asked. "Two cities do not count as major territory, an entire state on the other hand that counts." Veronica replied.

"I beg to differ." John said as he finished signing the paper. "Vault city is where I get my Absinthe from." John finished as he poured a drink of Absinthe.

"And were all so proud of you." Arcade chimed in. "By the way the followers are reporting relief and reconstruction of Freeside and Westside are going well. There was also something from the Think Tank."Arcade said as he looked through his pockets. "Ah here it is, it says: Research into Corrosive Missiles has hit a slight snag; to fix it we need water, chemical disinfectant, and lotion. (Don't Ask Why). Signed Dr. Klein."

John blinked for a moment before answering. "Send the ingredients and make sure whatever happened, didn't get in The Sink." Before Raul could give his report on the legion expansion into Texas and Mexico. Yes Man appeared on the screen.

"Hi! Good to see you all! Yes man exclaimed. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have an incoming signal from Rose of Sharon Cassidy." John immediately looked at the screen hearing Cass's name, they hadn't spoke in two years. She had been his closest friend before the battle and he had begun a relationship with Cass shortly after it. For a year they had had their ups and downs but then one night she left, leaving only a note saying she had heard word of her father up north in Montana and had to find him. It broke his heart but he didn't give up waiting for her to return. The screen suddenly showed Cass's face with an expression he had only seen once before: an expression of absolute terror and pain.

"John, are you getting this? Please tell me you are!" John ran to the screen and immediately replied.

"Yes. I am. What's going on Cass?" John asked.

"I can't really explain… its Primm, John. Primm's gone." John stood in confusion before he looked behind Cass's face on the screen, it was filled with static but he could clearly make two things out: fire and smoke erupting behind her.

"What do you mean gone?" John asked.

"Just get the Followers and Securitrons down here now before…" The transmission cut there. The transmitter on her pip boy must have given out. He had given her and the rest of his companion's pip-boys just in case of a situation like this. He began to walk away from the screen, picking up his weapons and equipping his duster with the flag of New Vegas painted on the back, companions in tow, they all set out for Primm.

From a hillside, Cass looked at the wreckage, bodies scattered, and buildings collapsing. She wondered: _What sick minds could have done something like this… _


	3. Firestorm

Chapter 3

Firestorm

John and company raced to Primm with an army in tow. Cass's message left the entire nation on alert: the followers had deployed medics and security teams to the site the Securitron forces on the  
New Vegas/Legion border made their way across all of Nevada to arrive at the ruins, Vertibirds and Planes from Camp McCarran, repaired by the boomers and equipped with firefighting supplies, circled the town avoiding the smoke and stopping ash from reaching them. John's heart was racing sweat covered his face thoughts lingered of who could have killed an entire town. "_It doesn't make sense._ He thought. _An attack of this scale and brutality would normally be orchestrated by the legion, but they don't have weapons to do it, not to mention they would have made sure that we knew it was them. The NCR has the firepower to do it… but they don't have the skill, let alone the guts, to bomb a town without someone noticing first."_ He was starting to realize that whoever did it was smart enough, skilled enough, and most importantly, powerful enough, to get in and out without anyone noticing. "The worst of two worlds." He mumbled to himself. Veronica ran up next to him.

"John, do you think anyone survived?" He opened his mouth to reply when they got up above the hills and Veronica immediately had her question answered. The town was in flames; smoke filled the air, ash covered the streets, and freshly burned and crisped corpse littered the ruins. Vertibirds were making desperate moves to put out the flames, but no matter how much they tried it wouldn't stop burning. Boone ran up from the behind the hill.

"You better call off the firefighters; they're just using up fuel." Boone said in his usual grim tone. "I've been watching that fire burn for three hours now. It would be easier just to pull any survivors out of the wreckage with Securitrons." John looked at him and then looked at the ruins. John knew he was right, it was just hard watching a town he had protected for years burn in a single attack. He swallowed long and hard before bringing up his pip boy communicator.

"This is The Courier pull away, there's nothing we can do for Primm, and the Securitrons will do whatever they can to find survivors." The Vertibirds responded, flying back to McCarran. Veronica and Arcade came up to John. "were going to head back to the Lucky 38 and get teams working on this." Arcade said.

"Send us anything that seems important, if there's anything left." John nodded as one of the Vertibirds landed to pick them up before continuing course. He looked down the hill. Cass was sitting in the sand, Whiskey in hand, as John walked down to her.

Tears were rolling down Cass's face the bottle she had was almost empty.

"You okay?" John said. Cass was taken off guard by his voice and flinched, spilling the rest of the bottle in sand.

"I was, until you made me drop the Whiskey." Cass said, holding back tears in her eyes.

"That crap won't work this time Cass." John said.

"Yeah… I guess it was a little obvious." He sat next to her as they looked into the wreckage. Securitrons were pulling wreckage and bodies from the ruins taking things from Bison-Steve as well.

"How was it when you arrived?" John asked.

"Worse than now." Cass replied.

"The flames were more intense and ash was further out." John sat there unsure of what to say; he wanted to bring up their relationship but knew this wasn't the time or place. Luckily one of the New Vegas Sand Marines, elite troops trained at Camp McCarran not part of any existing faction in the New Vegas Confederacy other than the city itself, broke into the conversation.

"Sir, you might want to come see this." They both got up and made their way to the camp that was being set up.

"Did you find a Survivor?

No sir, the town is dead as a graveyard.

The Securitrons found some sort of case; Yes Man said you might know what it is." John looked at the man, puzzled as they entered the room where it was being held.

"Why would I…" John figured out the answer instantly. The case was metal with two locks on either side magnetically charged and electrified, but the distinct feature was the markings: Pre-War Military markings all over the front and back. "Where was it found?" John asked.

"Bison Steve, Sir." As he began to touch it, the soldier warned him off. "Sir, I'd be careful. One of our men got his hands burnt off by that thing, not to mention how well secured it is."

"Don't worry." Cass said. "He can take it." As John grabbed the cases locks, it immediately was clear how a man burned his hands off. 200 volts of electricity were running through it, not to mention the heat of the flames. It took all his strength but he forced open the case no one but him at first saw what was inside. As his hands and body were repaired by the Monocyte breeder and all the other implants in him one word filled his head: _Maniacs._ He thought. _They had a contingency plan. _Cass came over and was speechless: the case was filled with plutonium, rigged to a detonator that had seemingly been melted by the heat. "Get this to the Lucky 38, NOW!" John Screamed. He sealed the case deactivating the security locks and let the troops take the device. Cass looked at him.

"John what exactly are we dealing with?" He said three words.

"I. Don't. Know."

After sleeping through the night at the camp. He and Cass made their way back to the Strip arriving in the penthouse seeing the task force that was assigned to investigate the bombings. Veronica and Arcade were hard at work with the device.

"Tell me you have something."

"So far… Er… No." Arcade said. Before John could punch Arcade, Veronica stepped in.

"It's not that were not doing are best, but not even the Brotherhood or Enclave has seen technology this complex before, even the ship and weapons we recovered from those aliens north of the old farms wasn't this complicated." He looked over at the scribes.

"Do any of you have anything?" One of them swallowed hard and then shook his head. "Does anyone have anything!" He yelled.

"I have something." Yes Man said as his face appeared on the screen. "All morning, I have been intercepting radio chatter from the NCR and Legion, they seem to be having problems of their own."

"Well, show us." John said. "Here you go!" A map appeared on the screen with radio transmissions playing over in the background, it was obvious what they were: Screams for help. John looked at the map in terror sites of attacks littered it. He heard what they were yelling, if only briefly.

"Anyone help us…the hub is gone… shady sands suffered massive damage from catastrophic nuclear attack…Boneyard is missing…Caesars Legion emergency broadcast loss eight...major cities…phoenix vaporized…situation escalating beyond our control…" it just went on and on and on. It was clear now it wasn't just New Vegas that was under attack, it was everyone, everywhere. Before he could say anything sirens went off across New Vegas.

"Courier! 56 projectiles incoming all over the Mojave, 7 are headed straight for the city." Before any of them could do anything a direct hit from one of them smashed into the tower. The explosion shattered the glass as flames went everywhere. John's sight went blurry then black.


	4. Hell on Earth

This chapter's not long, its really more of a thank you gift for anyone who has been reading it and the message below should explain what i mean.

I just wanted to say thank you to all who have been reading this so far. In the past weeks since I started the story I've been getting emails from the site saying that people were adding this to there story alerts and favorites it that meant a lot to me. This story is my first fanfiction and those emails were huge confidence and self esteem boosters for me. Made me want to keep writing. Now I'm getting reviews and that means even more. Keep reviewing, tell any story or plot concerns and I'll keep writing. I know I have grammer issues, I know I can explain to much at once, but im trying to get better at that. Thanks guys for reading and enjoy!

Chapter 4

Hell on Earth

John was beginning to regain conciseness when he heard muffling voices and sounds of alarms raised. His sight gradually returned to him to look up and see a Brotherhood Soldier helping him up.

"Good to see you're all right!" Yes-Man said from the screen.

"Forget me, what the hell just happened!" He got up on his feet.

"You've been out for two hours. A missile hit the Lucky 38." Yes-Man replied in his usual cheery demeanor.

"Why didn't you shoot it down? We have turrets for that exact reason!" John yelled, annoyed.

"I tried sir, but I think whoever sent the missiles expected us to try and stop them." Yes-Man's reply wasn't helping John in anyway. He quickly noticed that. "For one it was small, very small, not the size of a nuclear weapon, maybe five feet at the most. It was also equipped with some type of jammer, I couldn't lock on and I didn't even detect the missiles until they were in spitting distance of their targets". John stared at him with anger now.

"If the missile was that small, how in god's name did it destroy half the damn tower!" He was on the verge of shooting everyone in the room.

"I don't know sir!" Before John could go off again, he panicked with a horrible realization.

"Wait, if we were out for two hours that means that..." John didn't even finish his sentence when he ran to the window and looked out on the Mojave wasteland. He should have seen this first it was more important than anything: His world was on fire. Clouds of dust and ash moved across the sky, Columns of smoke erupted from the towns, roads damaged by the bombs now nearly nonexistent, and at the heart of it all was his failure to protect the nation he built up. He began mumbling in fear and pain. "Yes-Man. Lock down the tower."

"Yes Sir." Yes man replied. As he watched the soldiers get the rest of scribes and his friends off the floor, plates of pure titanium began shifting over the shattered windows, and the doors sealed in a similar fashion. John only had one thought in mind: Vengeance.

Meanwhile, from deep in The Divide, Reginald Fergus watched the columns of smoke rise from the Mojave wasteland, smiling in victory from the ruins. As he began to walk away he knew this was the start of things to come. What he didn't know, was that he was being followed by an Old World Ghost.


	5. Wanting Revenge

Chapter 5

Wanting Revenge

"Tell me you found the source of those missiles." John said angrily as the lockdown emergency lights came on.

"Nothing yet, radar sweeps are negative." The soldier replied.

"I have the damage reports John." Veronica said, sweat running down her face. John looked at her, concerned.

"Don't lose it now I need you in this if were going to find who's responsible for the attack." He put is hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry John, it's just…" Veronica hesitated to speak. "This may not sound like me but… first Primm now the entire country? I don't know about you, but I want payback." The fury in her voice proved it enough for John.

"We'll get payback, but we need to know who attacked first." She perked up a little as he opened the report. The reports of damage were incredible: McCarran fuel reserves were set ablaze by the strike, artillery stocks exploded in a massive fireball at Nellis, killing Pearl, Lloyd, and half the Boomers and similar incidents with all the military outposts. Other scattered report included the brotherhood bunker being fused shut; Novac's Bridge was destroyed with minor burns to the residents and Freeside residents suffered slight glass cuts from the tower attack. Hoover Dam managed to shoot down the missile with flak turrets after seeing the tower attack, still taking slight shrapnel damage.

"Sir, we have the origin point." The soldier announced. He ran over to the command terminal. "Whoever attacked managed to jam the missile's signals, but not the jammer itself." The soldier explained.

"Where is it?" John asked. the maps came up on the screen.

"It should be right… Oh God." John looked up and began shaking his head.

"_Why would you do it? Why?"_ John thought.

The location was dead center of The Divide.

None of them could believe it and to be honest John didn't believe it, but the evidence and nature of the attacks all added up: Ulysses was the only possible attacker.

'Sir, should we send soldiers to find him?" The soldiers asked.

"No." John replied. "I'll find him myself." He ran out the door grabbing his 9mm pistol, a fully upgraded GRA Anti-Material Rifle, explosive rounds, and some stimpaks running out the door. The doors unlocked as he ran out. John's rage was boiling, but sadness hit him first. "_You better have an alibi, Ulysses. I don't want to be the one to kill you."_

As Reginald Fergus walked towards his rendezvous, Ulysses watched from the ruined highway, sneaking from car to car. "_Who are you? Why do you walk this road?"_ He thought. He had seen the smoke from Primm, and almost left to investigate when he saw Fergus enter the long road. Ulysses was drawing lines unsure if Fergus was the survivor or the perpetrator. As he got up to move to another highway or building, he heard movement behind him and pulled his submachine gun off his back and turned around, only to see The Courier aiming his 9mm pistol at his head. "Courier…" Ulysses said startled. "Miss me?" John asked. John didn't wait for an answer as he smashed Ulysses' stomach with a fully clenched fist.


	6. Tying a Loose End

Chapter 6

Tying a Loose End

Ulysses clenched his stomach in pain the impact of the couriers fist felt like it had shattered his spine. He didn't scream though, not looking to alert any marked men, tunnelers, or more importantly Fergus. He looked up; John was still aiming his gun at his face.

"I thought we passed this three years ago." Ulysses said.

"So did I. Why did you do it, Ulysses." John said.

"Do what?" Ulysses asked, puzzled.

"Don't play games with me." John said, bitterly.

"Why did you attack the Mojave?" Ulysses became even more confused.

"You mean the columns of smoke? I was going to investigate. I had no idea it was there was an attack on the entire Mojave. John still wasn't sure about him. "I saw the missiles but I believed it was you launching an attack on the Legion." Ulysses said. "I figured they were responsible for the initial column of smoke."

"Why didn't you investigate earlier then?" John asked. Ulysses didn't answer, just looked towards Fergus. John looked towards him as well, holstering his pistol and grabbing his Anti- Material Rifle. "Who the hell is that?" John asked as he looked down the scope of the rifle.

"I don't know, but if someone attacked the Mojave and needed a place to hide, why not hide in the heart of hell." John looked at Ulysses.

"You were following him?" Ulysses nodded.

"You don't have a solid alibi, Ulysses, but if you help me track him and get answers I'll let you go." Ulysses knew he was in no position to deny his demand. He got up on his feet, grabbed old glory from his backpack, made sure his breathing mask was still on, and started off. John simply smiled half glad half fearful that Ulysses may not be responsible for the assault.

As Fergus moved across the Divide towards the edge, they shadowed him slowly.

"Where is he going?" John asked.

"It does seem odd if he was coming here just to hide, to keep going into the Divide." Ulysses replied. As they began moving from car to car rocks from the cliffs were falling causing the Fergus to check behind him. The marked men around the divide seemed to be giving the area a wide berth which was troubling Ulysses. "_Why aren't they coming? They rarely back down from a fight and even more rarely avoid anyone. Maybe the courier's presence is scaring them off or perhaps they simply don't have a way in? Either way it feels wrong." _He thought. Ulysses didn't realize he had drifted off and quickly was snapped back to reality by John.

"Hello, earth to Ulysses." He shook his head and stared at the Courier "Sorry to interrupt but there are people's lives at risk." "We can't drift off now we need to keep moving before he…" John couldn't finish his sentence as the rocks around them collapsed. "LOOK OUT!" John yelled, not thinking as he and Ulysses ducked out of the way. Fergus obviously heard John because he ran off like a bullet. "Catch him!"

They ran over the ruins shooting at him in an attempt to wound and stop him. A bullet raced by Fergus's head as he ran. John and Ulysses turned around the cliff walls entering the open pits of the divide. Fergus had a good lead on them as he tried to get to a steel wall several feet ahead. "What is he doing!" John yelled. A terminal slid out of the wall as Fergus entered in a code on a dial.

"Stand down." Fergus put his hands up as the dial opened and a hand print scanner emerged. "Who are you, why did you attack the Mojave!" John yelled Fergus but Fergus screamed right back.

"You blasted fools! You've killed me! I wont be able to escape them now!" Fergus screamed, panicking.

"What do you mean?" Ulysses asked.

"You think you're the only power out there? That you can reclaim the world!" Fergus continued to scream. "Your nothing but specks of dirt compared to them!" John stepped forward.

"Compared to whom?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Compared to the people that are strangling your nation, the people that will take the wastes from you, those that have died and lived again." John and Ulysses shared a look of curiosity and fear. "The people that shape world events, those that shaped the future and claimed the past, the untouchable army, the unstoppable force, the intangible threat, the… Suddenly he stopped screaming and grabbed his throat." A radio chip in his ear began transmitting.

"You've made a great mistake, Mr. Fergus you've attempted to sell us out and you will pay the price for your treachery." The voice said.

"No…" Fergus managed to get that out as blood poured from his mouth. John ran forward with Ulysses trying to help him. The voice in his ear continued to speak. "You will die to preserve us, to help us towards utopia." The transmitter fried as Fergus died choking on his own blood. John and Ulysses looked at the brutality unable to believe what had just happened.

"My god." John said in shock.

"Who would be willing to do that to a man?" Ulysses just stood silently, unable to speak. Seeing the hand scanner John grabbed Fergus's hand and put it into the scanner. A small slot than opened on the wall with a Holotape in it, which quickly Ulysses grabbed. John opened his communicator to the Lucky 38.

"Come in this is the Courier. Anyone, respond!"

"This is Arcade, we read you." "Ulysses isn't behind the attacks; we've got something a lot worse on our hands." John said over the link.

"Well, if you think its bad now, you need to get back to the Mojave the situations has gotten even worse here." Ulysses looked at John and he looked right back.

"Explain." John said over the communicator.

"You'd have to see it John. I can't even explain it to you." Arcade announced.

"I'm coming, then." John shut the communicator. "You're free to go, Ulysses". As John began to walk away, Ulysses quickly followed, taking the pip-boy off of Fergus's corpse. John turned around and saw him walking with him, raising an eyebrow at him. Ulysses quickly responded.

"You're not walking this road alone, Courier. You're going to need help." John looked towards the Mojave and back at Ulysses.

"Fine, but your going to do things my way." Ulysses just nodded and they both started walking forward into god knows what back home.


	7. Doomsday Clock

Chapter 7

Doomsday Clock

Exiting the Divide was simple enough, there was little to no resistance from the marked men or tunnelers. Arcade's transmission was a mystery to John and Ulysses. Worse than the firestorm that destroyed the Mojave? John mumbled. Seeing as though they had only been gone for a few days, John didn't think it could get worse from where they were. Meanwhile, Ulysses was seeing the destruction up close and it made him feel heartbreak. The scale of the destruction was almost that of the Divide, so many lives lost in an instant. _"After burning ourselves and our world in nuclear fire…_ Ulysses thought. _How could man make these mistakes again?"_ Ulysses questioned. While he didn't make it noticeable, Ulysses was silently blaming the courier. _"After you make a nation, you are supposed to protect it; not make a stupid mistake like this."_ Ulysses didn't know it, but John was thinking the same thing.

As they approached the towns on their way to the strip things seemed off. While it would seem obvious why there was no one out of their homes, they kept hearing strange noises and echoes from the towns and checkpoints. At Novac there seemed to be lots of coughing and sneezing, at the trading outpost there seemed to be moaning and yelling, and even on the roads echoes of people violently coughing and choking. While this all seemed strange they had only seen a few people actually seeming sick, however as they approached Freeside things seemed dire.

When they entered the gates it was becoming obvious what the issue was. Blood stained the streets, vomit splashed across the walls, citizens seemed to be clutching their heads and screaming in pain, and some just seemed to be going insane. Several random attacks had cost them time. Several of these attackers were Kings, shooting people on the streets forcing intervention. Ulysses had easily bashed in several attackers with Old Glory, in a very Legion way, while John was forced to kill several citizens who were begging him for death. John had stopped to mourn the dead but had quickly raced on. He knew in his head that if it was this bad here, it was going to get worse in the wasteland. John and Ulysses ran through Freeside fighting off more deranged lunatics.

"I think this is what Arcade was warning us about." John said as his pistol recoiled from the shots he was firing at the crazed attackers.

"You think?" Ulysses replied sarcastically as his submachine gun recoiled brutally with every shot.

"Didn't know you used sarcasm, Ulysses." John said as they continued to run towards the gate.

"There's a lot about me you don't know." He replied.

"Well it's not like I can just…" suddenly they stopped speaking as they heard gun fire near the gates.

"What is that?" They turned the block and saw the gate surrounded by seemingly unaffected citizens. There must have been forty three people there. Men, women, and children were screaming and yelling.

"Please! You have to let us in!" One woman yelled.

"Were not like them!" Another man yelled. The Securitrons just stood there armed to the teeth and ready to shoot.

"Citizen, please remain calm. We cannot allow infected onto the strip. We are simply…

"Were not infected!" One man cut in. "According to our scanners you all have trace amounts of the virus in your systems, we cannot allow…"

"I say we cut are way in!" A child yelled from the crowd. "_No you stupid fools!"_ John thought. "Yeah I'm with him." Other joined in and suddenly the crowd broke out in a riot. "Lethal force authorized; eliminating hostile elements.

"No!" John yelled, but wasn't heard. Gatling laser fire was seen as several rioters were turned to ash; 9mm fire ravaged and killed a dozen people. As the rest began to scatter the Securitrons didn't stop, opening fire with rockets and grenades that murdered the rest. All 43 civilians lay dead as John and Ulysses reached the gate. Woman and children weren't spared and John fell to his knees over a young five, maybe six year old kid, with bullet holes in his chest. John didn't hold it in any longer, tears rushed to his face. Ulysses stood calm and cold.

"You could have intervened, Courier." He spoke in a low voice. John got up on his feet and stared down Ulysses.

"You think I didn't try? Didn't you see me screaming!" He exclaimed with tears.

"I saw you, but you could have done more you could have acted quicker." He stated, coldly. John didn't hold back anymore, he point blank punched Ulysses into the dirt.

"You offered to come along, didn't you?" John said. "You criticize me, when you could have acted first!" He continued.

"Yet your forces continued to fire on them as they scattered." Ulysses stated as he got back up on his feet. John tried again to punch him down but this time Ulysses grabbed him by the wrist, twisted his arm, and smashed his elbow straight down on him. John heard his arm shatter to pieces. It had become very hard to scream.

Ulysses began whispering. "You are very lucky those monocytes are there or you wouldn't have an arm anymore. This isn't the time to fight each other people are dying out there. We can settle are anger later now we need to act together." He let go of his Johns arm as it repaired itself. John finally began to calm down.

"I hope Arcade can justify this." John said, wiping tears from his emerald green eyes. "Let's go." They walked forward and showed the Securitrons the Platinum Chip, which quickly allowed them to pass.

They reached the penthouse of the Lucky 38 after going through several sterilization protocols and purges, which backed the fact that the people out there were labeled with some type of infection. Walking into the command room John was ready to scream.

"What is going on out there Arcade?" John spoke but as he looked around he saw no sign of Arcade. Veronica quickly turned around and spoke.

"Arcade left for Old Mormon Fort and he took the All-Purpose Science suit and the AER14 Prototype. He said he was going to get the Followers, the Brotherhood already sent the best scribes." Veronica explained. Yes-Man suddenly rolled up behind him.

"I've received word from Arcade. He says that Julie Farkas was infected and killed. The Followers are now turning to Arcade for leadership; the survivors are making their way to the casino. I've called off the Securitrons at the gate so they can get in." John looked at him relieved. "Okay, I need this Holotape decoded. John stated.

"Certainly, although I may want to show you something first." They walked over to the command console. "You see, the virus that affecting the wasteland is incredibly lethal, in fact I've been able to calculate how long it would take for it to wipeout every living thing in the Mojave." That timer on the left should give you a basic idea."

Veronica cut in. "We've also received some demands, you need to hear this." She pressed a button on the control panel and a message began to play.

"We are Supremacy One; we have ravaged your homeland, and have released our virus. Now, you no doubt seek a cure for the virus. We have such a cure in our possession. We demand that in exchange your leaders stand down from power and hand control of the nations over to us. Only then will we distribute the cure. We are Unstoppable. We are Untouchable. We are Invisible. We are Utopia."

John and Ulysses looked down at the timer it read: 3 months, 4 days and 5 hours.

The countdown had already begun…


	8. To Save Everything

Hello i just wanted to say keep submitting reviews and put any questions or plot concerns into them, it would help me write better if i knew if anyone had concerns with the story or plot. Again i know about the grammer problem and too much explanation problem so please any concerns be directed towards plot or characters or the story. I'm also releasing a new fanfiction today but its really just an experiment to see if i can make it work. it's called Dragon Age: Hellfire Rising. Dont worry my focus will remain on Fallout: Supremacy One as i stated above it is just an experiment to see if i can make a Dragon age Story. Thats all. Thanks for reading and enjoy.

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Chapter 8

To Save Everything

"Veronica, you're in charge." John declared.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To find these monsters and cut them all down." John said.

"Don't you need the holotape decoded?" Ulysses asked.

"There's more than one place, there's other ways." John stated as he pulled the TransPortalPonder from his pocket.

"What am I suppose to do?" Veronica said.

"Call together whoever's in charge of the NCR right now and send this message to Lanius. We need to pool are resources to find a cure."

Veronica stared at him. "How in the world am I going to get Caesar's Legion and the NCR to work together? Don't they both hate us?" Veronica asked in shock.

"Do whatever it takes!" John yelled as he walked out into the elevator, Ulysses following close behind. "You don't need to follow me anymore." He said to Ulysses.

"You can't fight a force like this alone." Ulysses said. "You've already walked a lonesome road; you don't have to walk alone anymore."

"You mean the road you put me on? the road that made me make one of the worst mistakes of my life?" John said angrily.

"I know what happened, but you pulled the trigger, not me." Ulysses said, defending his actions at the Divide temple. John stated.

"Yeah, I guess I did." John said. "You ready to leave?" John asked.

"Yes, but are you sure the big empty is the best option?" Ulysses said.

"There's more there than you think. It may hold an edge against Supremacy One." Ulysses didn't get it but he knew the Courier had more experience in the big empty than he did. "Let's go." He activated the TransPortalPonder and in a flash of light they were gone.

Meanwhile in the penthouse Veronica sent a signal to NCR command. "Hello? Who is this? I am acting president Cassandra Moore. Identify." Col. Moore's voice sent a chill down the young brotherhood scribe's spine.

"Um… this is Veronica Santangelo, HI." Veronica said while awkwardly waving.

"Oh, I remember you. What do you want, scribe?" Veronica looked at the grizzled commander and saw dirt brushed up on her face and rage building up. Veronica swallowed, panicked.

"Uh…John Hollister…needs us to pool are resources to fight a…Uh…extremist group that's responsible for the attacks." Veronica could tell that she was stumbling. She wasn't much of a diplomat.

"As much as I despise you and Hollister, I agree, were coming over in a Vertibird with our top scientists." The communication channel cut and Veronica sat there shocked, still sweating and panicking. She began to think aloud.

"If that was how I negotiate with Moore, how do I even talk with Lanius?" Veronica said.

Arriving in the big empty was simple although Ulysses felt as though some of his organs had been rearranged. They entered the sink and saw all the little personalities arguing and bickering as usual. The sink command unit quickly spoke up when he walked in.

"Good evening sir. might I interest you in a cold liquid refreshment or perhaps something done about your hair?" It asked.

"What's wrong with my hair?" John asked.

"It's as white as snow when your only 26 years old and it's a buzz cut, must I say anything else?"

"No, but can you decode this holotape?" John asked.

"Yes sir it will take me only moments." He stood back as Ulysses explored. He found it odd that all these objects were talking. it was slightly disorienting. Then it got worse he opened a door next to the Couriers' room and found the organs floating in there jars.

The brain spoke up. "Hey! Shut the damn door!" He complied with that request, and shut it, almost wanting to weld it. Ulysses walked up to John, stared at him, looked back at the door, and shook his head.

"Done." The computer said. "The tape contains coordinates, a location in the Idaho roads."

"Great, thanks." John replied. Ulysses ran out after him as they hopped in the elevator. He had forgotten how queer the Big Empty was.

Arriving at the bottom, he walked out into the open room where the Think Tank floated around, attempting science. Klein floated down the steps to speak to John.

"Ah, Mr. Hollister it's good to see you…" he was cut off by the sight of Ulysses. "Why is he here! That man is a menace to all the wasteland!" He screamed. It attracted the attention of the other scientists. Zero floated over and stared at him.

"Oh, I remember you; you were the one who asked the unpossible questions." Ulysses interrupted.

"Impossible, the word is impossible." Ulysses corrected.

"Fine, whatever." Zero replied. Dala also made her way to him.

"You, you were the teddy bear who spoke unthinkable things. I overheard some of that conversation with Klein; you're not really a teddy bear are you?" Klein cut in before he could answer.

"No, he's a human and a melancholy, unstable one at that. Why is he here?" Klein asked viciously.

"He's with me, we need The Raven." The Think Tank all looked at him, concerned.

"Yeah, Umm… Hollister…" Zero began before Klein cut in.

"It's not ready. We've barely completed basic flight and weapons tests. Klein said. We just finished stocking it the other day. the corrosive missile compounds were completed and loaded, but we don't even know if those work." He ranted on.

"Can it fly and can it shoot?" John cut in.

"Yes, but…" Klein knew he couldn't convince him.

"Then get it ready to launch." John declared. He hesitated to answer but realized he lost.

"Fine, you win. It'll be ready in the hour." Klein stated.

"What's the Raven?" Ulysses asked.

"It would be easier to show you then explain." John replied.

They left the room with Klein watching as they left. "Godspeed, Hollister. Godspeed."

They entered the open wilds of the big empty arriving at a small hexagon that began to slowly open. Ulysses couldn't believe what he saw. As a small platform rose from the hexagon, an alien spacecraft rose with it.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Wish I knew." John said.

"I encountered aliens north of Horowitz Farmstead they had landed in this small ship. I had it captured following the extermination of the aliens and the battle for Hoover Dam. It was going to be a secret weapon against the Legion if war broke out. It's the fastest and most powerful vehicle we've ever found." A small hatch opened on the bottom. "All aboard." John stated. As they got inside was the same as the outside chrome silver and green lights. They got to the cockpit, and Ulysses quickly realized that it was jury rigged so they could fly it. They hit several switches and a small ignition button on the panels and lifted off. As they flew away from the big empty, Ulysses knew no matter how quick or how powerful they were, they may not be enough to defeat Supremacy One.

Meanwhile, at the last Enclave Outpost in Chicago meetings were underway as the last of the Enclave were on full alert. The soldiers patrolled the halls while the current president was in a meeting with the remnants of the forces. At the table sat at least eight officers and at the edge of the table sat 31 year old crimson haired president Samantha Case, the only female president in Enclave history.

"President Case, the Midwestern brotherhood patrols are getting closer to the base, if they find us, they will wipe us out." One officer declared.

"Yes, I know. Activate the stealth systems, and cease patrols.

"Yes, Madam."

"Have we gotten through what was left on our agenda?" The president asked.

"Yes it seems we…" The doors suddenly opened, and a 63 year old grey haired officer walked in.

"Lt. General Reese." Case stated.

"Madam President? I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting." Reese stated.

"No, it's quite alright, what do you need?" Case said.

"We have received disturbing reports from the West. Supremacy One has attacked." The room went silent with that revelation.

"Recall all patrols immediately, initiate stealth systems, and begin scanning for all active installations. Set the base to yellow alert until we have confirmed they are active. Move people, Move!" Case yelled. Reese walked in fully as the other cleared the room.

"Madame, if Supremacy One is active you know what that means.

Yes… Yes, I know. Just get to work, Reese, you let me deal with The Preacher." Case stated.

"Yes, Madame." Reese left the room. Case stood there looking at the terminals and was shook with fear. _"So the Devil Incarnates have returned." _She thought. "God, help us all…"


	9. Strike and Retaliation

Chapter 9

Strike and Retaliation

The Raven's speed truly astounded both John and Ulysses. A trip that would have taken days by Vertibird took only hours for the prototype ship. Flying high above the coordinates with a cloaking device, they landed several hundred feet north of the site.

"Alright, let's grab the equipment." John said as he flicked a switch. Suddenly hatches opened behind them, seats and beds rotated around and revealed a large stash of cases and racks, lined to the teeth with weapons and armor. Ulysses didn't question. He knew that when things that he cared about were on the line the Courier left nothing to chance and took every precaution against every enemy. Neither of them was quite sure what they would find, though. John grabbed a fully upgraded LAER, the Sonic Emitter for force fields, equipped the MK II Stealth Suit, and a rebreather in case of a gas attack, while Ulysses grabbed several incendiary grenades, a laser cutting torch, and a decryption device for terminals and electronic safes as well as some bobby pins for rudimentary locks.

"I assume you have a plan, Courier?" Ulysses asked.

"Yeah, get in, find what we need, kill everyone, and get out." John smirked. "That plan's worked well in the past and who am I to start breaking tradition?" John said. Ulysses shook his head.

"This is hardly the time to be making jokes, Courier." John looked at him.

"Yeah, but it's suppose to ease the tension before a fight." John stated.

"Well, it is not working." Ulysses said. His was voice slightly muffled in his mask.

"Fine, but our first concern is getting in. The coordinates put the base somewhere in the fields near here. John said.

Well, we better start walking." Ulysses stated. They left the Raven cloaked while John used his pip-boy to keep a lock on its location. As they started walking John wondered about the situation back home.

"Calm down." Arcade stated as Veronica was gasping for air and pooling with sweat and fear. "I know were in the middle of a crisis and were working with our worst enemies but that's no reason to panic… Well, actually that a very good reason to panic, but defies the point I'm trying to make."

Arcade's jokes were not assisting her fear. It was a miracle that Moore had agreed to assist, but now Lanius was on his way. Both were going to reach the Lucky 38 by nightfall. Veronica knew that would give her time to calm down and get ready, but the pressure on her was peaking. She didn't understand how John always kept such a cool head in these situations. She had always dealt with the faction aspects and consequences of John's decisions but nothing else. Now the entire southwest was depending on her ability to get the NCR and Legion to work together with the New Vegas Confederacy and more specifically: work with her. All of the other companions weren't going to be much help: Cass was injured, Boone was out trying to contain the virus with flamethrower teams, Raul was trying to build devices to assist in curing the infection, Lily was dead, ED-E was missing and Rex was with Boone, not to mention Arcade leading the Followers.

"Yeah, I've got quite the team." She managed to mumble to herself. She could barely think with all this pressure. She needed advice. She needed John's advice.

Arcade wouldn't admit it but he wasn't doing much better. He was keeping a cooler head than Veronica but it was starting to look a little bleak for all of them. The attacks had destroyed the Old Mormon Fort killing many good people and less than fortunate refugees. Luckily, when the attacks came most of the followers were in the wasteland searching for food and hospitals, but any and all who were in the Old Mormon Fort didn't have a chance. Now they turned to him for leadership and as much as he wanted to be in the field helping people, he was the only option left to lead. "This is going to be one hell of a ride."

John and Ulysses continued to cross the fields, having found no sign of the base they were searching for. As John's pip boy began locking in on the coordinates there was nothing in sight, just the vast emptiness of the Idaho roads. Looking off in the distance the roads were becoming less of a blur and more visible, which was distressing for John.

"We should have found it by now." He said.

"Calm down. We're not at the site yet." Ulysses stated. The winds were quickly picking up causing the grass and plants to rush east. As they continued to walk John's pip-boy started beeping.

"This is it, were here." As Ulysses looked around he saw nothing but a few rocks, the grass and miles of open terrain. The wind continued to pick up.

"It has to be here." Ulysses said.

"Well, I didn't know you could make non-existent places appear out of the blue, Ulysses. Are you some kind of wizard?" John asked, sarcastically. "Courier…" Ulysses started. "Because if you can make a place appear out of the blue, why don't you just cure the virus that's slowly killing everything else!" John began to yell, hysterically. Ulysses couldn't say anything. "Why did we come all the way out here to find that nothing exists here? Why did we come here just to fail?" Ulysses began to realize that the Courier wasn't saying this trying to be funny; he was saying it because he felt like he had just let everyone down.

"We can look elsewhere…" Ulysses attempted again.

"NO, WE CAN'T!" John screamed. "This was our one lead and we went and blew it. Now Supremacy One is going to wipe the floor with us, before we can even have a chance of fighting them off." John reached down and picked up one of the stones.

"Courier, you have to calm down!" Ulysses yelled.

"No, I won't!" He threw the stone and Ulysses jumped out of the way, it past him and as it hit the ground they heard a large metallic thump. The echo of that hollow metal sound, made John run towards the stone. He looked at where it had landed to find a small indentation in the ground. He brushed past some of it and discovered a locked metal hatch, hidden below the dirt and grass. John was holding back tears of joy as he saw the markings on the hatch, but at the same time felt anger and remorse for his breakdown. "I can't believe it. John said." Ulysses walked over. He looked up at Ulysses. "Ulysses, I'm sorry I…" John tried to begin but Ulysses cut him off.

"It doesn't matter, we need to get in." he pulled out the cutting torch and began cutting out the frame of the hatch.

It took a few minutes but the torch got through. Ulysses pulled out his submachine gun and kicked down the hatch. He looked down finding no guards but rather a single stair case with a door at the end of it. John followed him in wielding his LAER. Getting to the door, he could hear people talking on the other side.

"Ready?"John asked Ulysses as they leaned on the wall.

"Ready." He flipped in through the door to see two guards at the end of the hallway.

"Halt!" They yelled. As they raised their weapons, John went into V.A.T.S. Time quickly slowed down as he pulled his gun forward targeting one of their heads and the others chest. Before they could even react the shots were off. The one guard was flung back into the wall, killed on impact, while the other was vaporized completely. Ulysses didn't even get off a shot. As John walked towards the bodies he took a close look at their power armor and weapons.

"No… that's impossible." He mumbled.

"What?" Ulysses asked.

"Nothing." John said. He stripped the corpse clean of all the weapons and armor before getting to the next door. This time they just kicked it open. They found three men on the inside all wearing black suits and white ties, same as Fergus. Ulysses shot two of them while John got the third. They had been huddled around a map table, similar to the Archimedes targeting system at Helios One, except this one had readouts of the entire country.

"Let's get what we can; I'll take the terminal you see if you can find anything else, Ulysses." As John used his pip-boy to download the map, Ulysses used his decryption device and searched a safe on the far end of the room. It contained a Holo-Tape and a small amount of fusion batteries. He took them and pulled out Fergus's pip-boy to read the tape. As it opened the data on the tape, Ulysses eyes widened and he gulped.

"Courier, you need to see this.

What..." Before he could get to Ulysses, an alarm sounded. An alert was going off on the screen; he disconnected the pip-boy, only been able to get half the map.

"**Foreign incursion detected into main network, terminating outpost in twenty seconds." **The computer announced**. **

**"**Aw, Hell." John said. He and Ulysses made a run for it. As they ran out of the outpost and off towards the Raven, fast traveling as quickly as they could, the countdown continued.

5

The Raven was in sight as they continued to run.

4

They reached it, opening the hatch.

3

Running into the cockpit they flipped the switches and powered up the ship.

2

The ship began to lift off as they were ready to fly away,

1

As the ship flew away, the shockwave from the explosion could be felt for miles. Five tons of plutonium were hidden beneath the bunker detonated remotely the raven may have been fast but they could feel the heat of the explosion barreling down. Fleeing east to outrun the blast they eventually were free of the explosion.

"What does that Holo-tape have on it Ulysses?" John asked. Ulysses flicked the power on his pip-boy showing him the message:

"Phase one successful, despite the loss of Inspector Fergus. The attacks were successful and the Mojave Wasteland is in turmoil, however, we face two threats on to our plan. Reports state that our old foes have reemerged in Chicago. Inspectors, you will go there and deal with them, turn the locals against them; I doubt anyone will need much convincing. The other concern, however, may be slightly more difficult." John was suddenly stricken with fear. Below photos of them were shown. "These two have not been infected by the virus, they appear immune. They have acquired unknown craft and are coming towards you, Be Ready. They should not be underestimated. We are closer to utopia than ever before. Make us all proud"

The Preacher

"Who or what is The Preacher?" John asked.

"No idea." Ulysses replied.

"What concerns me is how they already knew we were coming. We had only left hours before." Ulysses stated worriedly.

"Not to mention the technology they had." John stated, as he pulled the tech out of his pack.

"That is Advanced Power Armor Mark III and a Neutron Rifle; these are campfire stories in the wasteland, even to the Brotherhood of Steel they are just myths." They both looked at each other with concern. "These are dark times, Ulysses." John said.

"I've got a feeling there going to get darker before this is over." Ulysses replied.

Somewhere in the wasteland secret operations were underway. As voices whispered of treachery and espionage, accusations were made and integrations were preformed. It became clear no one knew who to trust anymore. Everyone had begun to understand the threat to them was greater than they realized, somewhere in the ruins of America, it was about to get worse.

Inspector Terrence Floyd walked down the halls of the Spearhead, headquarters of Supremacy One's operation in the Mojave, dreading the moment where he would speak. He entered a small dark room one light lit in the center, and a massive hulking figure sat on what would seem to be a throne.

"What is it, Inspector?" The voice was part metallic and very deep.

"Sir, we have reports that the Idaho outpost was destroyed, all the inspectors were killed. Floyd went through his pipboy's notes. "At that same moment, a data breach was detected in the network someone copied a good half of our data. We believe…" Floyd found it hard to speak. "We believe it was the Courier. His ship seems to be heading for Chicago."

The voice became angry. "You have the audacity to speak of failure within the halls of our great organization! Why I should…" the voice calmed down. "No, I won't." The voice seemed to be contemplating. "I want him dealt with." The voice bellowed.

"We're not sure any of our men will be able to defeat him." Floyd stated.

"Then use someone who can."

Floyd swallowed. "The assassin, sir?" Floyd asked.

"Yes, pay him as much as you need, just be sure he gets the job done. Now go before I lose my patience." Floyd fled the room in terror.

Floyd arrived at a bar in the town of Fallen Shields. He walked through the doors wearing leather armor so not to be picked out from the rest. He walked up to the bartender. The bartender saw through his disguise rather easily.

"From south or east?" The bartender asked.

"From right above your head." Floyd replied.

"He's in the loft." The bartender said, handing him a key. Floyd walked towards the loft and opened the door leading to the staircase. He ascended them with ease and looked at the wooden door at the top. He opened a small slot and place a bag filled with 1.000,000 caps and a small note. He fled down the stairs as a hand with a black and white checkered gauntlet grabbed it. The note had a picture of the Courier and a letter.

Here is your payment.

Here is your target.

Name: John Hollister. Location: Chicago.

As Floyd reentered the staircase he found the door opened, his payment taken, and in its place: a bloodied chess piece lay knocked over.


	10. Checkmate Rising

Thanks to all who read this story as usual. Keep reading and reviewing, and again if you have any questions plot wise. Feel free to say so.

We are about half way through of the way through this story. We are nearing an end but an end to what or who? Keep reading and find out.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 10

Checkmate Rising

Veronica sat in a chair across from Caesar Lanius and President Moore, who she could tell had their sights locked on each other, rather than the situation at hand. "I'm sorry but we need to get underway." Veronica said, boldly. Lanius's mask took a hard right as he stared down Veronica.

"I agree, but what do you need me here for? The Legion has no use for science and technology." Lanius stated with his usual cold hearted tone.

"Yes, but you have a need to live and die in battle." Veronica replied. "If this virus, which we have code-named the Wraith-Plague, wipes out all life in the Legion, you'll die a cowards death, being cut down by an invisible foe." As Veronica continued to speak she realized why John had asked her to lead. As it turned out those "faction aspects" of her job were all she needed to lead this group.

"True." Lanius said. "What do you require?" He asked.

"I need your forces to contain the infected, there rioting all over the Mojave. Veronica stated.

Understood but why…" Lanius attempted to start but Moore cut him off.

"Why would the Legion be necessary? the NCR's forces are much closer and could...?"

"Because John trusts Lanius more than he trusts you!" Veronica yelled, sick of Moore's complaining. Lanius suddenly had his eyes locked on Veronica, Moore's mouth dropped like bricks.

"HE TRUSTS THEM!" Moore yelled.

"Yes, Yes I do." John's voice caught them all off guard. They looked around and didn't see him. His face suddenly appeared on the central monitor. "Hello? Is this working?" He continued to say.

"Yes, it's working." Veronica said.

"Oh, Good. Listen; don't ask questions, just listen to Veronica." John stated. "

Alright speak." Lanius stated his arms crossed. Veronica stared at the screen and shrugged.

"Okay… Lanius, get troops into Freeside and the following places across the Mojave. Veronica commanded as she handed him a list. "Moore, get scientists to Arcade and engineers to Raul. Arcades working on studying the Wraith-Plague, Raul's building a device to release it airborne across the entire southwest and perhaps further to prevent the threat of it ever coming back.

Alright… but I have a couple of questions for Hollister." Moore said as she raised her hand at John. John could feel the tension in that room from the Raven.

"Alright. Shoot." John said, confidently.

"First off, what do you know about this "Supremacy One" your friend has told us about?" Moore asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"At this point, we know little to nothing. We managed to recover this map from the Idaho base, before it… well… exploded and killed everything for several miles." As it appeared on the screen, the map showed multiple locations in pre-war America layered over in color. The colors had New Vegas's territory labeled red, the NCR and several smaller locations yellow, the Legion was orange, Illinois was black, and a location out on the east coast was red as well. "It's a layout of threats in parts of the North American continent; we didn't get all of it though. From what we can tell, yellow is non-existent, orange is minor, red is moderate, and black is major." Moore looked at him shocked.

_Have we fallen that far?_ She wondered. _No one sees us as powerful anymore?_ Before she could ask her next question, Lanius interrupted.

"What are these locations?" He said pointing to the east. "We're heading to Chicago, now. It was a major city in the old days, and whatever's there now is scaring Supremacy One." John said.

"And the other?" Lanius asked. "No idea, but if I pinned it down to a single location I would say Washington D.C, the old capital." John stated, unsurely.

"What could be there?" Lanius asked, this time genuinely curious.

"I don't know, but we plan to head there next if everything goes according to plan.

Who's we?" Moore asked.

"Myself and Ulysses." Both Moore and Lanius were taken aback by that revelation.

"You're traveling with the frumentarius who discovered Hoover dam?" Lanius said. The image shifted to Ulysses who was piloting the ship. He looked at Ulysses, who looked back at Lanius with hatred and dissent. John turned the image back.

"Does that answer your question?" John said. Lanius simply stood there, his mask guarding any image of shock on his face.

"You're traveling with a war criminal, Hollister; I suggest you hand him over when this is done." Moore said, her fist clenched and her gun ready to fire.

"No." John said. "We're all wasting time with this, we need to move." While everyone was uneasy knowing Ulysses was with him, they knew he was right. Cutting the comm. Channel, they moved out.

Chicago was in ruins building fell to the ground huge pile of wreckage were everywhere. Grooves were burned into the surface by massive storms holding over head, making it impossible to navigate the area from the air. The Raven landed two miles from the city they had too the storm would have torn the ship down the middle Ulysses had believed the Divide was bad, but this truly was hell on earth. He couldn't believe the scale of the destruction the Divide was ripped in half but this was ripped apart in about twenty three different ways. Small cracks in the surface were at least a mile wide the towering skyline was in flames, set ablaze by the storm. Lightning bolts must have been several hundred feet in diameter; it was crashing and ripping buildings out of the ground, turning the ruins into an inferno. John had seen the clouds before but never the city itself. He had walked pretty far east back in the day he had made it to Illinois, but turned back; wanting to go back to the Divide, back when it was a city, not the crumbling ruin with the stench of oblivion. Ulysses looked at the Courier, John looked right back. As they nodded at each other and began walking towards the city, they were unaware of the sniper rifle locked on them.

Entering the city was worse than they expected, hounds and feral ghouls roamed parts of the street, no human life by any means. The ruins were constantly collapsing and shifting thanks to the storm. As they walked the streets armed, with submachine guns, rifles, pistols, and grenades, both wearing their Courier dusters to help with the heat, mysterious shimmers roamed the roofs. "What is out here?" Ulysses asked.

"I don't know, doesn't look like there's any life or at least any intelligent life." John stated. He heard noise, quickly turning around aiming his light machine-gun at street an empty street.

"There's something here, I just don't know what." As they continued to walk forward. The source of the noise poked his head around the corner. The man was an Enclave soldier, who quickly radioed in to the Cove outpost.

"Sir, we have unknown contacts entering the city, should I engage?" He asked.

Reese responded. "Are they Brotherhood?

Negative, they appear to be from a separate faction."

Reese hesitated to respond. "Supremacy One?" Reese asked.

"Unknown, doesn't appear to be, but can't count it out.

Keep watch. Teams will be dispatched to rendezvous with you. You may than take them directly but do not kill, I would rather interrogate them first.

Roger, I'm also picking up stealth radiation it seems to be getting close… I… what… AHHHHHHHHHH!" Screams filled the comm.

"Private respond. Private please respond. Private? Private!" The soldier was dead as a checkered hand holstered a pulse gun. The hand suddenly tore out the radio from the private's helmet. The hand made its way up, revealing a thin muscular, figure, in a skin tight black and white checkered combat suit seemingly designed out of what looked to be monocytes. Attaching it to his checkered suits helmet, it pulled the radio inside morphing it to the helmet. Being able to hear everything the Enclave was up to, the mysterious figure in the checkered armor left another bloody chess piece at the soldier's feet. The scream obviously attracted attention because he could hear the footsteps of the Courier and Ulysses running towards him. Suddenly, the suits white pieces were covered by black before the suit became completely invisible. He receded into the shadows vaporizing the body as he went. Ulysses and John turned the corner to see the ash.

"What was that?" John asked as he searched the dark part of the alley.

"I don't know…" Ulysses said as he reached down, grabbing the piece. "…but whatever it was, it likes to play games." John came over and looked at the chess piece. "Any idea, what it means?" Ulysses asked.

"No clue, but I think it would be smart to move." John stated aiming his machine gun around the entire alley. "Indeed." Ulysses said. as they began to move the both heard a familiar noise: the sound of an eye-bot flying towards them. Raising weapons, they were both surprised when the eye-bot turned out to be ED-E.

"ED-E, what are you doing here?" John asked. The eye-bot beeped with its combat noise. "You want to fight Supremacy One with us?" The robot floated up and down, signaling yes. Ulysses looked at him.

"He must have stowed away on the Raven. I wouldn't say no to him Courier, it's a long road back." He looked at Ulysses and ED-E. "As long as you two don't kill each other, I'm fine with that." John stated. "Agreed." Ulysses said. They all continued to walk as the mysterious killer followed from the roofs.

Coming up at an inter section Ulysses and John agreed to search the streets beforehand now that they knew they weren't alone in the city while Ulysses turned left, John went right with ED-E. Before john even made it three feet. A massive explosion occurred in one of the buildings behind Ulysses toppling it over and cutting them off.

"Great." John mumbled. "Ulysses! You're cut off!" John yelled.

"Oh really, I didn't notice!" He yelled back.

"It looks like will have to meet up somewhere! What about that skyscraper we saw coming in! Seems like a good place!" John continued to yell so he could hear him.

"Yes, it does! I'll meet you there!" Ulysses yelled back.

"Good luck!" John said as he turned around and started walking. They had seen the explosion, what they hadn't seen was the checkered mans shot that brought down a fuel tank inside.

"Like moths to a flame." He said. In an echoing, static, metal voice.

Ulysses had made it to downtown as he looked up at the flaming city. Lightning was bouncing off the walls of the towers inside the city, causing the entire place to become an electric conduit. _Walked a lot of roads, never thought I would see this_. He thought. While all seemed pretty bad, he hadn't seen the Enclave soldiers watching him as he went by. Teams were on low roof tops and in alleys, armored and ready. While Ulysses hadn't seen them, the checkered man had and dispatched several of them. Causing a stir as the man watched Ulysses enter an open area, he grabbed his sniper rifle off his back. the sniper rifle was different than any others; it had an electronic scope, an energy cell power conduit, and used .223 ammo rather than .308. as he locked in on Ulysses from the ruins an Enclave motion detector had picked him up. Troops were entering the building, heading to his floor. He realized as he heard the troops rushing the stairs that, they hadn't been using the radio, they must have figured out he had been listening in. He heard a soldier walk up behind him and reload a plasma rifle.

"Don't move!" He yelled. The mysterious man got up on his feet.

"I said don't move!" The soldier yelled. Suddenly, the checkered man grabbed the soldiers arm in pain; the soldier dropped the plasma rifle, if fired off, alerting Ulysses. The man easily showed disgust they could even see it through his covered face he ripped the soldiers arm off, power armor and all, before killing him with a pistol. Two other soldiers entered the room firing off plasma shots that both missed, the man grabbed the rifle off the ground and with one shot for each, killed both soldiers. He leaped forward grabbing the sniper rifle. As Ulysses turned his back looking ahead, he fired a single shot the round was energized cutting through falling rain and going clear through Ulysses old world flag straight through the middle star and straight through Ulysses. Ulysses collapsed in pain, activating the distress beacon on his pip boy, mumbling two words before passing out: "Help… Me…"

"Help… Me…" John got the distress beacon an hour later as he approached the area, and immediately started running towards the coordinates._ Don't die on me, Ulysses. _John thought. _Dear God, how did this happen? I should have realized it earlier we were being directed around the city, just to be trapped and killed like a cornered rat. _John's imagination was breaking him._ If he dies, it's my fault._ John continued to let his imagination run wild. He's _the last survivor of a mess I created when the Divide exploded. If he dies… _John than realized why he had brought Ulysses along: _Because I'm guilty. Guilty of killing a city I created and helped keep alive, guilty of murdering hundreds maybe thousands of people in the Divide alone, guilty of letting his country die around him while they thought I would save them, guilty because he's chasing an enemy that he may not be able to stop, guilty…_ John had tears rolling down his face. _Guilty of not being able to save his friend._ John thought for a moment. _No, No, No, No, No! Not again! I will not have another good person's blood on my hands! _He knew Ulysses had crimes on his hands, but so did he and as much as they hated to admit it, they were each other's chances for redemption. He entered the downtown area turning the last corner, only to see Ulysses pip boy, not him. There was no blood trail just a pip boy playing the same words on loop. That's when he saw the checkered man on a nearby roof waiting for him. The soldier teams were nowhere to be found. He hid back with ED-E and came up with a plan.

The checkered man waited hoping the distress beacon would catch him. Suddenly the radio in his helmet picked up a signal and it was close. The checkered man ran from rooftop to rooftop, trying to get hear the signal. It was getting stronger as he made his way towards a four story high building. As he reached the building he jumped through a window onto the fourth floor. Coming very close he heard what the message had to say: Look Behind You. In terror the checkered man looked behind him to see John, who quickly struck, running himself and the man through the window on the other side. The glass shattered and they were sent falling. As they fell, john pulled out his pistol and constantly shot the man punching him when he got close. As they were about to hit the ground john grabbed the man and used him as a shock absorber and shield. They hit the ground with plenty of force, enough to kill a normal man, but surprisingly upon impact neither man was dead. The man was bleeding intensely but was alive enough to speak. John quickly took advantage of that fact.

"Who are you!" John yelled.

"Checkmate…" the man replied.

"Who told you to kill us!" He yelled again.

"No one…" Checkmates attempt at lying failed miserably. John shot him in the kneecap.

"I said. WHO!" John yelled. Checkmate passed out. Before John could do anything else something hit him in the back causing him to fall over. He hit the pavement and saw Enclave soldiers walking towards him and Vertibirds approaching as he passed out. This is Team Omicron, we have them…


	11. The Enemy of the Enemy

Chapter 11

Enemy of the Enemy

In a dark room, ominous voices and a shadow were in a discussion over one specific topic. "John Hollister." One said. "What of him?" Another asked. "He seems to have become an annoyance." The other stated. "Annoyances are inexcusable." Yet another spoke. "Indeed, in all of our years of planning and consideration, this man seems to defy all odds and expectations. Has he come into contact with the other?" Another asked. "It does not seem so." Yet another said. "Checkmate, never failed us until he came into contact with this man." a female voice said in anger. "He plays his cards well. Defeating Checkmate escalates the problem." "What is his current status?"The shadow asked. "Unknown, he seems to have been captured by the Enclave. Then send your best man to kill him and destroy that base, than were free to move forward with Phase III."

"The word has already been sent." The voice answered. "Good, this session is dismissed."

Hollister was gasping for air as he woke in a small white room, he couldn't see very well looking around he saw someone coming at him. He punched them out as he hopped to his feet things were coming into focus as he saw that the room was not white but rather made of dense black material with white lights in the moldings. Suddenly sound was coming back to him as he punched out a security guard in power armor. His strength upgrades from big empty made him powerful enough to punch off some of the power armor he grabbed the rifle off the ground shoot and killing the guard as he ran down the hall in his duster he looked around the floor was grating the walls were grayish brown and lined with door similar to the design of the brotherhood bunker. Before he could understand what was going on he was tackled to floor from behind. He could hear words being made out.

"Cm da… cou e." Not being able to hear the whole thing he turned up to see a familiar face wrestling with him. He realized what the words were: "Calm down Courier." He had just been tackled by Ulysses. He stopped fighting.

"Ulysses…?" John asked with blood in his throat.

"Yes, it's me." Ulysses said.

"Am I dead?" John asked.

"No, your fine. A little delirious, but fine." Ulysses replied. He got up.

"Where are we?" John asked. "To be honest I don't know. The people who got us said they wouldn't say anything until you were either dead or awake. Why… wait...Dead or Awake? How long was I unconscious?" John asked concerned. "You're not going to like this, but it's been a month." Ulysses said.

"A MONTH! You have got to be kidding me!" John yelled in a panic. "I wish I were." Ulysses asked. "Has Veronica or anyone called in?" John asked heart pounding, eyes watering. "Yes. They've finished production on that machine to distribute the cure, but there have been problems." Ulysses said.

"Oh, god. Do I even want to know?" John asked. "No probably not, the issue is that while they've completed production on the device they have little to no updates on the cure." John wanted to bang his head against a door. "You've been here a month, and you haven't any idea who captured us or why they did? They kept me in the same room as you until you punched me out and broke down the door." John suddenly realized the person he punched out was Ulysses. "Our captors forwarded any messages from the Raven, so I assume they don't intend to kill us." Ulysses said. "I don't care about the captors what about veronica and her rag tag alliance." John said. "Alright… Well they did have an idea but…" before Ulysses could continue, Samantha Case walked down the hall with a detachment of soldiers. "I am President Samantha Case. She said to John. "Good to see you've woke up; I wish you would have without killing my soldiers but I'm not very picky right now. You need to follow me." She said, bluntly. "Why and where?" John asked. To the interrogation room, your friend is locked up in it. John couldn't even be sarcastic right now he was out of options and followed her.

When they reached their destination he found out it was actually just a force fielded box. John also saw the full extent of the damage he had done to Checkmate. His suit was filled with cuts from the glass, his leg was covered in a bandage and cast, and his spine had an electric splint running down it. "Who is he?" Case asked. "I have no idea. He called himself Checkmate before he passed out." John said. "Well, he's your enemy so you interrogate him. I'm not wasting my time over someone who may not be worth it." Case stated. "There will be soldiers surrounding the cell knock on the force field when you've got what you need." The shield went down as Ulysses and John, walked in, and it went straight back up afterwards. Ulysses lay up against the force field letting John do the talking. "Well, Well, Well, it appears the prey has turned on its predator." Checkmate stated, smugly. "Who are you working for?" John said. "Direct and to the point? Okay, Supremacy One hired me." John and Ulysses looked at each other in amazement. "Well… Why?" John asked, still confused. "Because they perceive you as a threat and believe you need to be dealt with appropriately. I personally believe they may actually be right in thinking you're a threat." Checkmate stated, confidently. John finally had to ask.

"Aren't you going to resist interrogation? Or start choking on your own blood like Fergus?" Johns looked puzzled Checkmate.

"No. why?" Checkmate asked.

"Because your under interrogation by your enemies… that's what your suppose to do?" John asked.

"Why? I have no loyalty to Supremacy One. I work for them, sure, but under the pretense of money as well as a job. If I am defeated by the target, than I have failed, if I kill the target I have succeeded. I have obviously failed, so I give you the spoils: knowledge of the enemy you face." Checkmate speaking put stars in Ulysses eyes, if John didn't know better, he almost would have thought it was excitement. John did know better though, it wasn't excitement, it was that he had found an equal, someone he could speak to day and night. Sad, that equal had nearly killed him. "I will give you the information regardless, but I ask only one question." Checkmate stated.

"What is it?" John asked.

"What will you do with me? I'm at your mercy…" suddenly the shields went down and Case came back.

"No. You are at my mercy and I will decide if you live or die." She stated coldly. "Now come with me gentlemen, I will explain ourselves to you." Case stated. With one look John got at Case's pin on the red collar of her blue suit he knew who they were.

"You're the Enclave." Case looked at John in surprise that he even knew the term.

"Impressive, do you know anything else about us?" Case raised her eyebrow.

"About this division specifically? No. What I do know is the last time you showed up in the southwest things got really bad, really quickly." John said, quickly drawing a line between them and Ulysses. He never told Ulysses that the American government survived in the form of the Enclave, worse he had never told him that the symbols he saw on the ED-E clone that destroyed the Divide, the American flag and the Enclave insignia, were actually the same group under two different symbols.

"Is that all you know?" Case asked.

"I don't know much else so... Yes. John said, lying using his famous speech and charisma skills.

"Alright." she said. "Follow me, I'll give you a little history lesson." They followed. Ulysses had noticed how uneasy John was.

"Something wrong, Courier? No, Nothings wrong." John said, uneasily. Ulysses saw through his lies and waited for the chance to ask where he could get an answer, one way or the other. John was scared, not only because of New Vegas and his friends but what happen if Ulysses found out about the Enclave. If his obsession was with reawakening America, what would happen if he found out what it had become…

After picking up ED-E, who was floating in an evidence storage locker, scared out of his little robot mind. They were continuing down the halls when Case finally started giving answers.

"We are not with the Enclave, you know. As a matter of fact we don't even know if they still exist." Case said. "We stayed in contact after the Oil-Rig explosion, but not entirely. We had heard of reports of them existing on the east coast but those reports also indicate they were destroyed not long after they rallied. We are what you call a Splinter Cell, devoted to fighting Supremacy One. We had already been drifting apart long before the incident." John was getting even more uneasy by the minute. "We know where they are just not how to fight them, but you seem to have kicked the hornets' nest when you invaded there network further than we've gotten in over 30 years. We're considered a threat for two reasons. One: we have information on the locations of their installation and outposts. The second was our original military force. I don't believe they know how weak we currently are." As they walked down the hall the question John dreaded came to light.

"Courier, what is the Enclave?" Ulysses asked. He had figured that Ulysses would wait, but his fascination was peaked. Before he had to explain it, Case promptly intervened.

"The Enclave is the last remnant of Pre-War American government." There was the answer John had dreaded.

"You're serious!" Ulysses exclaimed in excitement. John and Case were taken aback by his display of emotion, genuine emotion.

"For so long I've wanted to reawaken America… I didn't know it still existed!" Ulysses yelled, happily. This made what John was about to say all that much harder.

"Ulysses, I need to tell you…" John said.

"Not now, Courier." Ulysses said, as he cut him off. They walked through the door to the conference room. "So what is it like, President? I…" Ulysses was cut off by the banner he saw, hanging down from the roof. The Enclave Insignia.

"No…" Ulysses said. "I'm sorry this is what I tried to say earlier. John said as Ulysses was starting to break down.

"You knew the device was theirs? Ulysses said.

Not when it triggered, but I found out later from Arcade Gannon." John stated.

"Before you met me or after?" John's silence provided the answer. Ulysses punched him to the ground in moment of fury. Dropping on top of him, he beat John senseless. "You sicken me, Courier, you truly sicken me." Ulysses continued to beat him and punch him, breaking his nose and bruising him. The Enclave soldiers attempted to restrain Ulysses but he killed one of them by punching straight through him and getting a grasp on his spine, crushing it instantly. He then knocked the other one unconscious throwing him to floor. He fled the room and ran for the entrance. Case grabbed her communicator.

"Reese…" but John, healed by the monocytes jumped to his feet and grabbed it from her, crushing it. "Chasing him won't help. Let him go."

As Ulysses ran out the door and into the ruins, still armed with his equipment, he didn't notice the teams of soldiers armed with Advanced Power Armor Mark III and Neutron Rifles. "There's the bunker. Alert The Preacher we have found them." Suddenly the looming shadow of a mechanized juggernaut roamed above them. "No need. We will give them today, for tomorrow is ours…"


	12. Preacher

I hope people are still liking the story. As it turns out I've hit almost everything I want to hit with this story. There's about three more chapters left to write before the end. When I finish or even before, I really want to find out what all of you thought about the story as a whole. Don't hold back just give it to me. Tell me what I did right and where I went wrong. It would help me with the second story.

This has been a huge thing for me, being able to see how many people view and read my story. I know I'm not a great writer but I try desperately to write well. It would really make me feel good if reviews are just comments to give advice. I really appreciate every review and comment. You've all been supportive just by reading the story. When I found out how many people read my story on my profile, I swear to god, I cried. I had no idea how many people read it and when I saw how large the community of readers and viewers was,it was the happiest moment I've had in a good long while. Thanks so very much.

Enjoy the chapter and again I can't express this enough... THANK YOU ALL!

* * *

Chapter 12

Preacher

"What do you mean you have nothing?" Samantha Case's devil tongue quickly over took the combat center. "I'm saying it as it is Madame President." Reese said as stared her down he wasn't ever one for subtlety. It was four in the morning, twelve hours since Ulysses had fled the base. "There surely must be something?" She said. "No, he's gone, vanished from radar." As Reese and Case stared each other down, John entered the room.

"I was just in the Vertibird hangar; Ulysses said you had messages from the Raven?" John asked. "Yes, we had communicator relays sent from the craft so we could monitor incoming messages." Reese stated. "All right… than what happened to the Raven itself?" "We couldn't get it to lift off without you, so its still there, on the city…" Reese stopped when he realized what John was implying. "Get it now?" John said.

"I assume Vertibird's couldn't catch him." Reese said.

"Unless you have one that can move at the freaking speed of sound and have a pilot with my luck… No you don't stand a chance. Besides Ulysses wouldn't turn to Supremacy One, he's not insane and he's not on their level. He's not good, but he's not evil, either." While Reese trusted the Courier's judgment, Case didn't want people going against her.

"Why would you still believe that? From what you told me, he is below the worst. Not even giving the chance of surrender, taking innocent lives without giving a proper reason why. What would you call that?" Case stated getting up very close to John.

"I would call that the Enclave." John stated point blank to the president of the infamous organization. Case was left speechless as John left the room heading down to the interrogation room to deal with Checkmate.

"He's right, Samantha." Case turned around angered. "You will address me by my title Reese." Case demanded. "What if I don't?" Reese said, defiantly. "Listen to yourself! What are you becoming? Your demanding more than is capable of our men since Supremacy One resurfaced. You hoped for a force to back us to fight Supremacy One. After thirty years and a month after they resurfaced a force shows up that's actually damaged them, successfully attacked them, and you treat them like they're below you. You sound like your father." That last comment turned Case's blood to a burning inferno. At that point the rest of the personnel knew not to get involved here.

"My father was a great man and he would have led us to power!" Case yelled. Your father ran the Enclave into the ground. Case pulled a silenced 10mm pistol from a secret holster in her vest, aiming it at Reese. "What are you going to do, Samantha? You won't pull that trigger, there are too few of us left." Case looked at the floor for a moment and then put the pistol back into its holster. "You know I'm right. Autumn left you in my hands for a reason. He knew his daughter might die if you went to the east coast with him. Your brother is the prime example. Lying to John about being a splinter cell. Lying about the reports being unconfirmed, it's not a very good start to being an ally. If you are sincere about wanting to reform, a good start would be to trust people with information. Reese said. 'All right… just give me some time." As the staff moved back to work and Case walked towards her quarters, all were oblivious to John, still listening behind the closed door.

John was unsure of what to think of all this. _Lied to AND lost my strongest ally._ He thought. "This is going form bad to worse." He said, mumbling in self-thought. ED-E, who was floating with him, beeped sadly. He walked into the interrogation room, while ED-E floated next to the door.

"I need to speak to the assassin." John said to the troops. "Yes sir." He said. "I need to speak to him alone. Why?" the guard asked. "My problem." John said." Okay… here this is a remote device for the shields." He said, handing the device to John. "If he gets loose its on your head." the guard stated, pointing at Checkmate. The guards walked out the door locking the door behind them. As John walked in he fired the sonic emitter at the camera in the center of the shield box, smashing the device on the floor as he did. The shields were off, and Checkmate looked at him.

"Someone's being risky." Checkmate said. "Risking what? Me?" John asked. "No, your alliance with the Enclave." Checkmate stated. "Do you think you can trust them?" Checkmate asked. "No, that's why I'm talking to you. John said. "You asked me earlier, what I would do with you? I have my answer: I'm sparing you." Checkmates head turned and looked at him. "Why spare me?" He asked. "Oh, I see. Your old friend leaves you and you need backup." John pulled out his pistol and shot the electric splint off of Checkmate's back. He got up fine, ripping off the cast and bandage on his leg the suit quickly covered the cuts. "When did you figure it out?" Checkmate asked. "When you survived the crash from a four-story building on your spine." Checkmate laughed. "Before we go anywhere I should tell you what I know about Supremacy One."

Samantha Case sat at her desk in her quarters. A folded nameplate lay across her desk. It read: Samantha C. Autumn. She didn't care that she was lying to the Courier, that's what the Enclave did, manipulate, control, and take over. This wasn't the case, though. These lies were so that she wouldn't force the Courier's or anyone else's hand in their destruction. The Brotherhood of Steel would wipe them out on sight, the NCR would fire on them before they could even speak, and as for the Legion they're history spoke for itself. No matter them she wasn't entirely sure that was the case with the Courier's New Vegas Confederacy. He took the best and worst of the Mojave. He had united the Brotherhood and NCR so he could use it to get rid of the NCR patrols on the I-88 and bolstered his forces twice in strength with the salvaged power armor from the truce. From the information on the Eye-Bot, had he wanted the Enclave's destruction, he would have been able to do so at any time. She was no stranger to war, but the Courier had lived on the edge of total war every moment. The Legion could invade, the NCR could launch attacks on the fringe cities, or terrorists loyal to either side could assault them from inside. The year after he declared independence power hungry groups on the strip and in the Mojave attempted to assassinate him, yet he went on, forgiving the transgressors. While had that been the Enclave it would lead to open revolt, yet with him the transgressors loyalty somehow became stronger than ever working with the other forces to better the nation. Maybe it was the Ethical or moral examples he showed for his nation. While the Enclave would have annihilated any enemy that opposed them or attacked, he talked them down and formed alliances working together. The Enclave was formed of one organization and they yelled and backbit at each other, making them rather weak and disorganized. The Confederacy had armies and organization of different people loyal to their own independent tribes, while that would have been a potent suicide combination to them, the Confederacy worked like a well-oiled machine, all the different parts working together in harmony, and advancing towards a common goal. The worst part, the salt in the wound, was that they operated under American ideals: Peace, love and the pursuit of happiness. _"We always were wrong."_ She thought. _"It doesn't help that he did it right."_ She opened a drawer in the desk, pulling out a envelope. The envelope had a label: The Last Will and Testament of General Augustus Autumn Senior. She was always told not to open it until she believed it was right. If America is back in the form of New Vegas maybe the time is now.

"Listen you need to know this about them." Checkmate said.

"Sir, we have a glyph on radar." one of the radar men announced.

Footprints in the muddy ground were forming as soldiers closed in.

Case grabbed a letter opener off her desk.

"Patrols?" Reese asked. "None scheduled, and it's too large..."

"We need to go, tell me later." John said.

Case aimed the opener at the envelope.

Three of the glyphs energy signatures spiked.

"No." Reese stated in horror.

Suddenly, beams of energy lashed from the rifles, vaporizing the door to the superstructure of the bunker.

Alarms were raised all over the base. All the soldiers ran towards the base entrance and hangar. The interrogation door sealed fusing shut.

"That's not good." John said. he didn't even bother pondering it, he knew they were here.

Reese ran into the president's quarters. Case turned around and saw the horror in his face.

"Supremacy One is here, we need to leave." She left the envelope and fled the room with Reese and the secret service.

Troops entered the entrance hall firing their rifles, vaporizing Enclave soldiers. Their forces didn't stand a chance, beams cut through everything, making it very heard to fight off the Supremacy One soldiers from cover. The Enclave was desperate, grabbing fully modded plasma rifle and Tesla Armor, absorbing some energy from the shots, but they were usually lethal. The Advanced Power Armor Mark III was designed standard with Tesla capabilities. Worse they were also standard with medic injectors and stealth capabilities. Armed and deadly, Supremacy One snuck behind the Enclave barricades and quickly dispatched the guards. Racing down the halls, resistance was faltering, most Enclave soldiers were falling back to the hangar.

Troops arrived at the interrogation room. "Here they come!" The guard captain yelled. The troops walked forward with there blue neutron rifles similar to the plasma rifles. Fire! The guard captain yelled. Firing all plasma rifles they barely scratched the surface of the enemy armor. Getting closer and closer as the neutron rifles rained hell down on the guards. Killing two of the guards, the other five surrendered, along with the guard captain. The soldiers put the guards on the ground. "Who's in there?" The soldier asked.

"No one." The guard replied. The soldier shot him in the head. He moved on to the next. "Who's in there?" The soldier asked.

"John! John Hollister! And the assassin… Checkmate!" The soldier proceeded to shoot the guard in the head as he screamed. He looked at the stealth agent as another agent turned the other end of the hall.

"Open that door! We've got the Courier." The agents forced open the door. The lights that were previously on were off and the room was dark as night. "Go in and find him." The agent walked into the door and within minutes they heard a thump. The second agent walked in and within a few more minutes they heard another thump. "What's going on in there!" The soldier yelled. There was no answer. "Hello?" There still was no answer. He turned his head into the room and got his answer, because within seconds V.A.T.S clicked into position and the man was splattered over the wall. The other soldier tried to raise his weapons to kill the squad when Checkmate and ED-E dispatched him. John walked out and threw the bodies of the agents against the wall. Two more soldiers turned the corner at the other end of the hall.

"Hey!" They yelled. Checkmate grabbed the dead soldier's rifle and vaporized the two of them before they could even raise their weapons. John armed the soldiers. "I assume this isn't an average day for you." John said.

"No sir." The guard captain said. "It's okay you don't have to be formal." He said calmingly. "All right, Guard Captain Jensen Reigns." The captain said, holding out his hands. "John Hollister." He said shaking the captains hand. "Do you know where your forces would go if they were overwhelmed?" John said. "The Vertibird hangar. If we were overwhelmed we would take a stand in the hangar and could evacuate. Well, then we're going to get there and we are going to get you out of here." John said as the team grabbed their weapons. Checkmate grabbed the stealth agent's sniper rifle and his own katana from the evidence storage locker. ED-E was ready to go, while the team of soldiers was equipped with the neutron rifles and Supremacy One's power armor.

"Lets go." As the team began running through the base Supremacy One moved to stop them. Walking down the next hall turning the corner the soldiers open fired upon a squad of Supremacy One soldiers that had pinned down a team of two Enclave troops. Jensen grabbed their armor and weapons throwing them to the two soldiers. As the team moved on with more troops they made it to the entrance hall where the Checkmate shot and killed three soldiers with three shots from his sniper rifle. The other soldiers in the entrance hall turned to see the shots heading straight for their heads. With there bodies lying on the ground, the soldiers grabbed the supplies off the bodies and prepared to move forward. Checkmate grabbed the radio off one of the soldiers while John grabbed the omega cannon that one of the soldiers had used to get in, preparing to advance. Approaching the door to the Hangar they knew it wasn't going to be easy to evacuate but when they entered they realized how bad the situation had been.

The battle had been only ten minutes yet it from the outside it looked like the entire Nazi occupation of Europe. They opened the door to see horrifying sights. An advanced Vertibird was in the center of a devastated hangar, but it wasn't there's. Supremacy One had rounded up at least eighty Enclave soldiers in the small hangar they had them on the ground aiming a Gauss Minigun aimed at them all. The advanced Vertibird was armored with reinforced steel, seemingly having torn straight through the hangar doors, seeing as though there was a forty-foot whole in the wall. The Vertibird was Samantha Case in magnetic cuffs being guarded by a small security force. The worst part, however, was the sight in the center of the room. Reese was lying on the ground shooting a plasma pistol. When John saw the monster he was shooting at it turned his blood into ice. The thing he was shooting at was massive, six feet tall, thin and mechanized. Its enormous hands were gold, having joints that were 10-inch bolts. The abomination had massive four pronged feet that could reduce any man to blood beneath his feet. Massive power armor, similar to the stories of Frank Horrigan, covered the abomination. Reese was firing all his pistol shots desperately. The creature ran forward picking up Reese.

"You are weak, you are useless and deadweight." It spoke with a voice that struck terror into John's heart. "I will end your miserable existence and bring utopia forward." The circular hand palm suddenly forced outward like a piston, smashing Reese. He threw up blood as it did, his internal organs turned to dust. Suddenly, rods began to extend from his arm, his hand disappearing into the base of his arm. The rods slid into position as the piston forced back and forth at incredible speed, and within seconds gating gunfire ravaged and wrecked Reese, mutilating him to nothing more than a gory puddle. Before they could surprise the monster, the Enclave backup opened fire on the man using the Gauss Minigun, and began shooting at several other soldiers. The massive monster turned and looked and saw the team. John stared the creature down in terror. Dark grey armor made its way over the entire monster, black tubing running from plate to plate on the armor. "Leave." It said, gesturing to the Vertibird. As the Vertibird lifted off and fled the base, the monster began running at John, it rammed through the entire team, including ED-E and Checkmate, towards John. He had no time to jump out of the way, the next thing he knew he was on the wall, pinned down. "I know of you." The creature said.

"What…" John suddenly felt every inch of his body flying across the room hitting the hangar floor. His monocytes were working but not quickly enough. He pushed himself up the smell of blood filling his nose. "I am the Preacher." The creature stated. John looked up, the creature had knocked off his pip boy. Reaching to grab it he was cut off by the Preacher, who smashed his foot down, crushing the pip boy into scrap metal. Looking at the helmet of the monstrosity, John felt truly terrified. "You are the Courier…" Preacher said. He grabbed him up and pinned him to the wall. "…And you are dead." The Preacher finished grabbing a Vertibird propeller blade off the wrecks. Before he could finish it, however, shots rang out as the team was working against there foes. Suddenly they heard a hum. Low at first, than higher and higher and higher. A hum the soldiers wouldn't know but one the Courier would know well: the hum of the Raven's engine. Preacher turned around and saw the ship floating throgh the gap. It opened fire, hitting Preacher, and burning his armor. The weapons continued to fire as Preacher ran forward dropping John and focusing on the Raven. Bolts flew threw the air as the Raven opened fire with it disintegrators. As John got up he saw the drone cannons obliterate the remaining Supremacy One forces as the team freed the soldiers. Preacher, realizing he had lost, ran through the hole that the Raven was firing through. The Raven elevated out of the way of Preacher. Running from the base and into the wilds of the Midwestern wasteland, he felt satisfied at the test of the Couriers strength. _You are a mere spec of dirt. I look forward to your destruction. _He thought, maliciously. He deployed a beacon and within moments the Advanced Vertibird flew down for recovery.

The Raven landed in the hangar. Ulysses walked out of the ship, looking around at the decimated Enclave and sighed. I thought you left. John said, walking up to the old world ghost. "Road's not done." Ulysses said. "I couldn't leave without seeing it through to the end." Those words gave John comfort. The guard captain walked over.

"Reese is dead, and they took president Case." His tone was worried. "Who's next in command?" John asked.

"No one, the command staff was killed in the attack." He said. John looked around there were only about three Vertibirds working in working condition. Than who's in charge? John asked. Jensen looked at him with distress. "I'll take command." Ulysses said. John stared at him with curiosity. "What?" He asked concerned. If they claim to want to rebuild America, they need a leader who understands what America truly was. Ulysses declared. "We don't have protocol for this and even if you began to lead there's not much left TO lead." Jensen said. Ulysses didn't budge. Jensen looked around at the soldiers. "I'll give them the news, follow me sir." Jensen said. the two of them walked over to the soldiers, while John watched with Checkmate and ED-E. "Listen up, Men! We have lost most of our soldiers and our men. The president is missing, Reese is dead, and the command staff is gone. That doesn't mean we've lost hope. We are America! And if we are going to survive we need someone to lead us, someone who truly understands America." Jensen's rally was bringing attention from all the troops. "This is our new president." Jensen stated pointing to Ulysses. "Thank you, captain." He said. "Listen, I know you don't trust me. I know you think i'll bring you down. So I'll say this upfront: if you want to leave, this is your chance. No one did. "Good, listen, the Enclave is dead. It died in the oilrig explosion. I don't want the Enclave, I want America, if I lead you, it will be towards rebuilding the original United States of America, not this Enclave, and to be honest… there's no hope for that." The soldiers looked at him with confusion and anger. "Our ancestors tainted the name of America with what they became before the war. The name America is dead… but there is hope for the original American ideals: with him!" Ulysses exclaimed pointing straight at John. "His nation, the New Vegas Confederacy, is a phoenix for America. If we are to rebuild, it will be under his flag, as part of his nation." The soldiers were still there siding with him. "Are you with me?" He asked. The soldiers all stood and saluted. "Good answer."

John couldn't believe what just happened. Ulysses acknowledged New Vegas as America's future. John would never admit it, but he always wanted to hear those words. After the speech, they went up unto the Raven and contacted Veronica.

"Oh good you're alive. Ulysses contacted us and told us he was running because of you and that he detected soldiers and…" John shook his head. "Veronica I'm fine, tell me what your idea for the cure is." John demanded. "Oh Ulysses mentioned that?" Veronica said.

"YES! NOW TELL ME YOUR IDEA!" John said angrily.

"Sorry…" Veronica said.

"No, its my fault, this had been an exciting day for me to say the least.' He said, sad he had yelled at his friend.

"Well, we can't find a cure, the disease kills too quickly and it follows it up with a suicide chain on the virus, so it can't be studied." She said. "Our idea is that if Supremacy One was going to blackmail us out of power with the cure… John started to get the idea.

"They must have one." He said.

"And if your friends have a map, we can find the base its being stored." John was almost gleeful. Jensen was signaled by Ulysses to get the maps. "The Lucky 38 is locked down were safe from the virus." Veronica said. "Our "friends" have left, they did all they could." Veronica said.

"I didn't think they'd stay." John said.

"Good luck." Veronica said. John nodded and they cut the channel. This was it, the Final Run…


	13. On the Eve of War

I have revised all of the story so its eaiser to follow, hopefully. Thanks to CyberJordan for giving me some advice i hope new readers find it slightly easier to follow now.

* * *

This is it... the next chapter will be the climax. the plan is in motion, its all up to the Courier and his unlikely allies to stop Supremacy One before the Mojave and the entire southwest is lost. this is the calm before the storm. A secret will be revealed.

* * *

Chapter 13

On the Eve of War

Regrouping not long after Veronica had told them of the plan, John and Ulysses stood in the hangar centered on a makeshift table with an electronic map of the country. "There." John said, pointing to Oklahoma.

"That seems unlikely." Jensen said. "That installation suggests only a communications outpost. The other positions on this map look more promising. Here for example, the Everglades in Florida. They could easily conceal a command center with in those mountains." Jensen said, confidently.

"They also hid a secret outpost under Idaho, it was simply a hatch covered in some mud and rocks, yet now it's a crater several miles wide." Ulysses cut in. "the smaller we aim, the better shot we have at finding their headquarters. That is dangerously close to the Confederacy though. They wouldn't be the most logical move for them." Ulysses said. John looked up from the table and pulled his hands off.

"There not thinking logically there thinking strategically. Have either of you ever heard the phrase hide in plain sight?" Both of them shook their heads. "Of course it would be close to the Confederacy. We know they use spies they need to keep close eyes on them. It's also in Legion territory. The Legion would never think that an enemy could control territory that's within their grasp. If we had incurred there earlier, it would lead to war with them before we even got close." John continued to point out. "However, Supremacy One has made a mistake. The cities they bombed in Legion territory were inside New Mexico and Texas, forcing a full retreat from Oklahoma to resecure those territories." John looked at them smugly. "We attack now before the Legion regroups and we cripple Supremacy One."

Checkmate walked over. "This all sound great but you have one slight issue."

They all looked at the assassin.

"You intend to take the entire Enclave standing force for an assault on the headquarters? Yes of course, why?" Jensen asked.

"There aren't enough Vertibirds to move the whole Enclave. Besides I've worked for Supremacy One long enough to know full scale attacks don't work. You're better off with a small strike team maybe ten, fifteen soldiers at the most." He pulled a chip out of his suit. "Normally, I don't give away client information but seeing as though you're going through with your suicide mission you might want to see this." He dropped the chip on the table and it clicked open. A projection over took the table showing a massive underground complex. "This is what you're going to be up against. It's called the Spearhead, and it's the main headquarters of Supremacy One." They looked at the holographic projection. "The base is several miles in diameter. These are the three locations you would want to hit. The first is the Armory, containing stockpiles upon stockpiles of explosives, energy weapons, big guns, small guns, armor, bio weapons, chemical weapons, and even nuclear weapons, they have awesome reserves of fire power, set them off remotely and you're in for a fireworks show the likes of which man has only seen in the Great War." Checkmates joke didn't impress anyone. He simply brushed it off. "The second location is the reactor. Controlling all the power in the base you take that down and security systems, their data network, and their communications are gone. I suggest you take that one last because when those go down it'll take the hardware servers down with it destroying any and all data you can have on Supremacy One's operations." John nodded at that. "Which brings me to the third target the command center, this is where you need to be really efficient and quick, the servers are right there you would have to download all the data from the base in a matter of seconds. It also would contain the cure for your Virus." While Checkmate spoke, John cringed for a second.

"That last one's going to be tricky seeing as though Preacher smashed my pip-boy." John said, angrily. That old thing had helped him through his entire adventure and rise to power in the Mojave; it was incredibly angering to John that after he goes through hell, it was smashed by that psychotic maniac in a power suit.

"Well I have a solution for that." Checkmate pulled something else from his suit. "This has been good to me for a very long while. It's a pip-boy 2000, not as fancy as the gauntlet you had, but it will work for you as well as it did for me." He grabbed the device from Checkmate unsure wheather it was designed to help him or kill him.

It was different seeing, as though he had to now grab it from his pocket rather than just look at it on his wrist. Not to mention how small it was only about six inches wide and only about an inch thick. It was rather well preserved for a 200 year old relic. It was bright yellow no rust or stains anywhere, the wheel was shining and silver. Even the logo hadn't faded it looked like it was brand new. He synced it with his stats but didn't erase Checkmates, rather placing them in a note. The stats came up, S.P.E.C.I.A.L was all tens, his skills were at one hundred, his faction stats were all in the correct areas, and his karma was very good labeling him Messiah. _I hope I can live up to that one more time._ John thought.

"If we're going to attack we should do it soon." Jensen said, boldly.

"I agree." Ulysses said. John didn't say anything rather he looked at Checkmate. "You're free to go, Checkmate." John said handing him the map with the threat alerts. "I suggest you head to these locations if you want to be safe." Checkmate looked back at him his helmet still.

"Listen…" he said, reaching for his helmet. "…if I wanted to be safe…" he took off the helmet and the revelation nearly put the Courier in shock. "…I wouldn't be here now."

The face under that helmet was John Cassidy's. His face wasn't the same, though, it had been modified, he was younger, had pale lavender skin, his other eye was now missing with cybernetic black orbs replacing both of them, along with a new, massive scar running right across his face, no hair to speak of. Hollister at first felt shocked than he angrily punched down the man into the steel plating on the ground. "You son of a…" John said. Cassidy attempted desperately to fight off the Courier who pounded him before Ulysses pulled him off Cassidy.

"Okay, not the first thing I thought you would do." Cassidy said.

"Oh, I could do a lot worse." John said, viciously. "You abandoned your daughter! The woman I love! That makes me sick, Cassidy." Ulysses held him back.

"I know I left Cass, but do you think I could have come back to her like this! You don't think I know what I am. When I left her, it was the greatest mistake of my life, but by the time I could have gone back, you made your mistake. The road I was traveling when I became this. You should know it better than anyone except maybe him." He said, pointing to Ulysses. They both at that moment realized what had happened. "I was at the Divide when it went up in flames. The irony of it being what should have killed me has made me near immortal. I was in an old lab trying to find something salvageable when the blasts went off, I nearly died, but a purple liquid leaked out onto me bringing me up and covering my charred body. The lab had this suit, I grabbed it and ran, what else was I suppose to do? Go home to my daughter a monster? An abomination? All I could do was watch her grow up. I couldn't face her again…" Cassidy yelled, tears coming to his eyes. John had suddenly realized why he never had come back. He had to admit, he had envied Cass for at least knowing she had a mother and father. He had grown up alone not even knowing where he was born. I slipped away slowly but surely. Cassidy was whimpering at this point. "I couldn't even face myself anymore, my morality just evaporated. I regret every single shot I've taken at someone who didn't deserve it." Tears of blood were pouring from Cassidy's face. For once in his life, John took pity on someone, unable to bring himself to help. He finally just put his hand out and Cassidy grabbed it. He pulled the man off the floor. John was calm now, he knew what to do.

"When this is over you're going to make up for it. You're going to speak to Cass and you are going to make every second count with her." John said, staring straight into Cassidy's black eyes.

"I promise you." He said, wiping the blood from his eyes.

"I'm going to make sure you live to do just that. You aren't going to die on that promise." Cassidy collected himself, and placed his helmet back on.

"I have no plans of dying today or anytime soon." Cassidy spoke with his own voice rather than Checkmate's.

John and the teams began to board the raven and the three Vertibirds. Before they did, though, John made a brief speech.

"We all know what's at stake. Right now we're all that stand between Supremacy One and victory. I don't just intend to deny them their victory we will force them down into a crushing defeat. The information we have will lead us to victory. Today we are going to give them a taste of their own medicine with their own weapons against their own stronghold. Today we aren't heroes or villains. Today, we are avengers. We will avenge those that have died fighting them on the battlefield here, we will avenge those who died fighting valiantly against them, but most importantly we will avenge all who died because Supremacy One was too cowardly to fight us face to face, and rather struck at our homes and our families. We will kill them all for that. We will make sure they never do it again. We will have victory over Supremacy One!"

The soldiers cheered, fired up and ready to move. Despite the speech he knew they still knew little to nothing about the enemy they faced and had a feeling this would be a very hollow victory.


	14. Raven's Run

This is it, the climax, the final battle is underway.  
John's is taking the fight right to Supremacy One's front door.

They can't run anymore and they're acts of terror end here...Or do they?

* * *

Chapter 14

Raven's Run

Floyd and large platoons of troops stood in the hangar of the Spearhead. The hangar was massive; a few hundred feet tall, hexagonal plates of steel covered the walls of the towering hangar. Five advanced Vertibirds lay scattered, the rest were out on patrol. To humane sensible people the Spearhead was like a prison. Solid metal walls, thin single file corridors covered with guards. Bars of iron separating the rooms. Furnaces, labs and interrogation rooms were found on almost every floor. Yet this was only the surface, deep within dark secrets were held, sinister ideas were plotted and mad-mad men carried out inhumane animalistic experiments. Perhaps it was a prison or worse; perhaps it was hell.

"All right men daily patrols still apply, despite the loss of personnel during the failed raid on the Chicago base. He said, demandingly. We are currently planning are next move. So here are today's schedules. Alpha company, you are to report to the Preacher. Beta Company, you are to guard the command center. Delta Company you will be stationed here. Gamma…" the Inspector was cut off by a loud boom at the top of the hangar.

"What was that?" A soldier asked.

'Nothing, Platoons I've listed off report to your stations." Troops began to make their way out the small exits. "As I was saying, Gamma company you are to go to on patrol in B-wing… second floor…on the forth ha…" the Inspector was cutting in and out scratching, his head he felt like it was burning. _No not burning, melting. _He took of his cap and saw a hole going through it filled with green liquid. "What…" Floyd looked up at the ceiling, there was green liquid dripping through it. "AHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he started to melt. The troops remaining quickly looked up at the ceiling, the liquid was spreading it fell on to their armor and began eating it. The pain was unbearable, it was eating their flesh. Slowly, but surely melting through it and engulfing all beneath. The soldiers were on the ground screaming in terror the liquid ripping through the power armor like it was paper. It engulfed several men including Floyd. The liquid chewed through bone like it was bread. It severed men's limbs, tearing into their organs, melting them from the inside out. There was another boom and the liquid began gushing through almost flooding the room. Screams filled the hangar, as people disappeared beneath the liquid, devoured alive. Bones were dissolving, the Vertibirds were even disappearing. Screams were heard throughout the Spearhead when someone managed to get to the containment alarm on the wall.

One of the soldiers looked up and saw bright lights flashing in the through the holes the liquid was creating. He quickly found out it wasn't the light of the angels, but the lights of the Raven and Enclave Vertibirds, who opened fire, killing the rest of the soldiers in the hangar. As the Vertibirds descended the backs opened up revealing Enclave soldiers armed with Tesla Cannons.

"This is it." John spoke over the communicator on his new pip-boy. "This is the heart of the enemy and we have a very simple plan. We get in, plant the bombs, get out and butcher every last one of these animals." John stated, confident of their abilities. "We take no prisoners and leave no survivors." They were almost on the ground as the liquid was evaporating. The corrosive missiles had done their job. "Everyone ready?" John asked. As the soldier wielding the Tesla cannons filled it with max power charges, a chorus of fired up cheers and screams rained through the hangar. "All right, then!" John yelled, smiling. "Fire!" The Tesla cannons opened fire, ripping through the sealed hatches and doors in the room. "GO! GO! GO!" Everyone dismounted the Vertibirds and the Raven. Now, it was zero hour.

Each commander broke off into a company of five. Ulysses took a team, Cassidy took a team, and Jensen took a team. The halls were filled with guards. They knew they only had to draw the attention of the Supremacy One while John executed his plan. Ulysses's Company was making their way through The A-wing of the base. They began encountering resistance early on making it hard to attract the attention of the rest of the soldiers in the wing. They were pinned down in a long corridor. They had used corners and riot shields for cover. Blasts from the enemy neutron rifles blazed down upon Ulysses who turned the corner when the enemy reloaded. The enemy's shots stopped and two of the Enclave turned the corner and opened fire catching one of the soldiers' off-guard dismembering his leg. Taking advantage of the moment Ulysses turned the corner submachine gun raining bullets down as the enemy attempted to move the wounded soldier. The rescuers and the wounded were quickly slaughtered holes going straight through them as blood stained the wall. The smell of their blood was the smell of victory to Ulysses. He and his five men turned the corner and began moving towards the other end of the hall with full force. The remaining two soldiers were overwhelmed. The communications officer sent off one final message, and Ulysses was glad to hear it.

"To all forces, we are under attack. This is an organized offensive by unknown enemies. The Spearhead is breached; I repeat the Spearhead is breached! Regroup before…" the message cut as Ulysses shot the man in the head. Ulysses quickly contacted John.

"Report." John demanded.

"We've really kicked the hornet's nest now, Courier. I think we can safely say were at war." Ulysses said jokingly.

"I think we have been for a fairly long time. Good luck." John said.

"You too." Ulysses replied, cutting the channel. Ulysses looked as soldiers turned the corner. "All right men, Nobody makes it out alive!" Ulysses yelled as they opened fire.

Echoes were heard all over the Spearhead. Echoes of sounds that Cassidy had only heard one other time while on the Enclave Oil-Rig, It was all too familiar: it was the sound of war. Cassidy's squad was making their way through B-wing. He was unloading rounds in Supremacy One's soldiers. This was truly a battle. They were running through the bases halls, hearts pounding, adrenaline rushing, and sweat pouring. 'It's good to be back." Cassidy mumbled.

As they continued running forward three soldiers turned the corner, opening fire with neutron beams. They clinged to the walls as the heat of the beams raced by, one nearly burned Cassidy. They flew out from the walls and fired back. Shots of plasma rained down on Supremacy One jamming the Tesla Coils on the soldier's power armor allowing for quick disposal by Cassidy he fired all his shots straight through their heads. As they crumpled to the ground the team made a run for the next corridor. Four more soldiers lay in wait at the other end. Cassidy grabbed one of the corpses using it as a shield. Running forward as laser upon laser upon beam cut forward mutilated the corpse, he pulled out his pulse gun and opened fire, killing two of the soldiers. One of the survivors ran forward and vaporized the body grabbing Cassidy and pinning him to the wall. He pulled out his pistol and prepared to shoot him but the team behind Cassidy quickly dealt with him. Opening fire on the last soldier he melted into the ground becoming a puddle beneath the feet of the team. Hearing more soldiers approaching they dove into a nearby door. Hiding in the room, waiting for the soldiers to pass, Cassidy looked in front of him to the sight of an atrocious display. There was an operating table armed with what appeared to be laser cutter, a several scalpels, robotic carbon fiber claws, and thick needles. All of these torturous devices were aimed at the table and the man on it.

He looked at them screaming. "HELP ME!" He was dressed in an old wasteland settler outfit, and magnetic cuffs locked him to the table. The laser cutter than fired, cutting into the mans torso while he was conscious." AHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed. The needles latched themselves into the man's arms. Suddenly the needle opened four slots on them and molten saturnite flushed out onto his flesh burning the clothes.

"GET HIM OFF THAT THING!" Cassidy yelled. They desperately tried to override the machine as it ripped into the man but a security sheild blocked access. The scalpels began to carve through the man's face. It cut out his eyes. The green saturnite was hardening on him. The robotic claws quickly began receiving cybernetic implants from within the cluster, inside the base of the machine. Taking his pulse gun, Cassidy overloaded the device and through it into the shield. It went down instantly. The team vaporized the laser cutter and the robotic arms, but was too late to stop the device from covering the man with saturnite. It was spreading more quickly than they could stop it. It leaked through the gap in the man's chest melting his organs. The screaming continued drawing the attention of the soldiers outside the door. As they began to try and open it Cassidy mercy killed the man on the table with a plasma pistol.

The soldiers broke open the door and the Enclave opened fire. The picked off two of the initial intruders but then forced their way in shoot and firing their neutron rifles. One of the beams from supremacy one killed a member of Cassidy's team. As they got close with what appeared to be reversed engineered shock batons, Cassidy pulled one of needles from the corpse on the table, stabbing it through them enemy soldiers throat. He then put him on the ground and beat him to death with the shock baton. He picked up the soldiers neutron rifle and fired it at the enemies in the room leaving no survivors. He grabbed the shock baton and placed it on his suit. It attached itself onto the gauntlet, giving him an effective short range weapon. They fled the room but not before detonating a plasma grenade on the machine. He pressed forward further into the depths of the enemy base. He was truly seeing how sick and inhumane they were.

_We will kill them all. _Cassidy thought, maliciously.

Despite the relative success of Ulysses and Cassidy's team, Jensen wasn't having the same luck or progress. Being battered by brutal resistance in C-wing, the guard captain was not having a very good time breaking through. His team had ended up entering the more heavily guarded areas of the base which was quickly turning into a bloodbath. Shots were being fire from across an open room they had enter it appeared that it was a production room there were automated assembly lines similar to the masters FEV vats at mariposa. The devices were mass producing and forging devices designed for war. The power armor and the neutron rifles were not even the beginning. Below in the flames he could see production being done on Esther class Fat mans and specialized mini-nukes by the hundred. They were even forging chemical weapons as well small scale radiological devices. This whole place was built around destruction. He would bet the bio weapons that hit the Mojave were forged here as well. This whole place had to be destroyed and quickly. he turned his attention back to the battle at hand and saw the enemy encamped out on the outer railing on the other side of the room ED-E flew by them firing bolts at them with precision and lethality. Two of the soldiers were dead but another four quickly arrived for support. Neutron beams quickly cut yet another soldier in half. There were at least ten soldiers against a measly three and ED-E. The troops were coming across the catwalks firing all their weapons at the Enclave forces. He couldn't believe how bad this had gone for him.

"Go!" He yelled at his soldiers.

"You're crazy!" We aren't leaving you here! His soldiers yelled back.

"I'm not giving you a choice." Jensen pulled out his trump card. An MFC grenade.

The soldiers looked at him understanding what he was about to do. "It's been an honor, Sir." One of them said.

"Save me the sobbing and get the hell out of here!" He yelled. The soldiers quickly complied running back through C-wing. The soldiers surrounded the downed guard captain.

"Any last words?" The Supremacy One soldier asked.

"Yeah…" he threw himself over the catwalk, pulling the trigger on the grenade. He hit the forge and began to melt. The grenade detonated, in a spark of raw energy. The blast triggered the mini nukes and the other artillery weapons inside the forge flames, erupted all over C-wing. The running team barely made it past the blast doors as the war machines within were incinerated by the raw power of the explosion. The radio lit up like a Christmas tree.

"What was that?" Cassidy asked.

"Did John do it?" Ulysses asked.

"Negative. I'm still en route to the command center." John said. The soldier activated his signal.

"It was Jensen, sir. He just destroyed the war factory they had in C-Wing…HUH! …He didn't make it out… HUH! HUH!" The soldier was choking on smoke from the blast. The radio went silent. It was lit up again by Cassidy.

"I'm turning my team around; we are going to regroup at the hangar. He said.

"I'm en route as well. Move to live soldiers." Ulysses added.

"Yes sir." The soldier replied. They turned around and ran for the hangar. This was starting to fall apart.

Supremacy One was mobilized now all forces were running towards the hangar. The patrols near the command center had begun to decrease. There were only four guards left near the entrance. "We are not to let anyone in." the lead guard said. "Anyone gets close that isn't one of us four we shoot them. Even our own men." Suddenly a shimmer ran behind the guard in front, and broke his neck. "Hey!" The guards yelled. John decloaked in his Couriers Duster opening fire with his 9mm, gutting the guards like the animals they were.

"Pathetic." He said. He placed a decoder on the door which quickly caused it to unlock.

"Let's finish this." He grabbed out his 9mm, and opened the door. "Preacher!" He yelled, but the command center was empty except for two figure standing in front of the large command terminal.

"Well, Well, Well. I will admit I never expected this." The man wasn't preacher. He wasn't anything like Preacher, he was human, looked about 35, with brunette hair and wearing a blood red suit. "The legendary Courier, we meet face to face. I am Michael Hyde, Director of the Mojave division of Supremacy One. It appears you've passed our test. I suppose next time we should be a little less direct in our testing." John stared the man down, his pistols sights pinned on him.

"You are going to surrender yourself and Supremacy One." John said.

"Why would I ever do that?' Hyde asked, at first puzzled, than smug. "Oh… you believe you hold all the cards, don't you?" Hyde asked. If that's what you think you aren't as smart as they believe you are. Hyde looked at him with a smile on his face. "You believe you've won?" Hyde asked, sarcastically. John cocked the pistol. "Well, I'm sorry to shatter the illusion but you haven't done anything, well, anything relevant to you." John raised an eyebrow. "You were tested." Hyde continued. "This isn't even a fraction of what Supremacy One is capable of. The assault on the Confederacy was the beginning of a test, this is the end." Hyde continued, smugly smiling. "It was a test to see how far you would go to stop us."

John's eyes began to widen and his heart raced. "This test is based around the most vulnerable part of a person's psyche. In your case, it was vengeance. If I can put it into perspective, it's a game, and you're a player. You also aren't the only player. I will admit, though, you came farther than we thought; attacking us here was never even thought to be a possibility. Then again the test didn't take into account some unexpected variables."

John was in shock. _Was this really all some sick game to see what would happen? _He wondered. This was too heartless. He couldn't imagine what kind of men would do this just to test his limits. "You did all that to the southwest… The madness, the bloodshed, the sickening treatment of your own soldiers… all to test me? What the hell is wrong with you!' John screamed in anger.

"You misunderstand; your test puts us closer to Utopia than ever before. Hyde continued. When we have the information from the second piece we can achieve it. What are a few thousand lives in exchange for several million? I wouldn't expect you to understand." Before John could move the second figure spoke a robotic voice, sounding somewhat malevolent.

"Utopia… you're a fool, Director Hyde. There is no Utopia for you. This Advisor that I am speaking through acts as my eyes and ears and I think I've heard quite enough." The voice obviously struck fear into Hyde.

"What… but I…" Hyde couldn't even talk he didn't believe what he was hearing. "We give you everything you wanted. This test was preformed because you said we could… you lied…" Hyde collapsed grabbing his throat, the same thing Fergus did at the Divide. Blood poured from within his mouth.

"Your plans and mine are very different things, Director, the Courier is a player in this game, but you, the Silhouette Board, and the Faction are mere pawns." The Advisor said. Before Hyde was forced to endure the same fate as Fergus, John shot him in the head. He looked back at the machine.

He stared down the machine in anger and determination. "This is over. I don't care whether Supremacy One is run by god almighty himself; you are going to give me the cure and dissolve Supremacy One." John demanded.

"Of course." It said. The Advisor, as the voice had called it, became more detailed as it approached him. It was a machine made of black nano-fibers, structured to look female, it had a hood also made of nano-fibers, wrapping above and behind a round black reflective helmet with no identifying features. It wore a sort of robe with a belt at the waste. It grabbed a small cylinder off of its belt.

"Here take it." The voice said, sounding even more malevolent. John took the cylinder and felt it. He looked back into the helmet with disgust. He smashed the canister on the ground as it released the Wraith-Plague a concentrated dose of the Wraith-Plague which dissipated rather quickly. "Well done, I honestly didn't believe you would pass that final test." It said.

"Your lies are hollow and obvious; you aren't as smart as you would like to believe." John said.

"Well then, I will think on those words." It said. "I have the results I required. Perhaps one day I will have the opportunity to use this information against you. Knowing your abilities, however, this data will most likely be irrelevant when that time comes. I suppose another subject must be tested to find what I require, but that is beside the point. I am not the brute you believe I am. In fact I am quite reasonable."

"Then stop hiding behind smoke and mirrors and "reason" with me, face to face." John said, holding up his hands in air quotes.

"No. No. No. Not now, not yet. Not while this... I... am still incomplete. However, I will give you what you have desired to retrieve for so long." The Advisor grabbed a second cylinder off of its belt. "Goodbye Courier, I suspect this is not the last time we will speak."

The male computerized voice cut out and the female voice of the Advisor went in. "Your reward Hollister." She stated as she handed him the cylinder. "I now bid you farewell." She said. This cylinder was white and cold compared to the black and warm plaque cylinder. The Advisor made her way over to a small pad. The pad lit up and she began to vanish as particles rained off of her. She disappeared in a flash of yellow transporter light seconds later.

John walked over to the terminal and began downloading the data in the command servers onto his pip-boy. He turned on the communicator and contacted Ulysses.

In the hangar the strike force was nearly victorious. There had been no signs of the Preacher and Supremacy One was falling back not having luck in breaching the hangar. Ulysses was running towards the last group of soldiers, valiantly rushing them. He fired his submachine gun repeatedly, killing the enemy forces with incredible skill. They stood victorious at last over Supremacy One. Ulysses answered the incoming message.

"Ulysses, it's John, I've got the info we need and the cure. You and Cassidy need to meet me in the armory." John said, worriedly.

Ulysses was confused. "If we've got the data, why don't we leave? We've won down here."

"The threat is greater than we realized, Ulysses." John said, worried. "We were wrong, this isn't the headquarters of Supremacy One; it's a forward operating base for their Mojave operations." John continued to run for the armory.

Ulysses was horrified at what he was hearing. "Courier, that means…."

"Just get down here and tell the Enclave to make a run for it!" John yelled. "We have to destroy this place or the whole wasteland is finished."

Ulysses complied. "Enclave soldiers, pull out! Head for Chicago. Cassidy, we need to get to the armory. ED-E fire up the raven and lift off the second were back on board." The Enclave forces looked at Ulysses with confusion and denial.

"We aren't losing another president, sir!" One yelled.

"You have to leave or you all die. He said. I'll will be back in Chicago, when we're all done."

The Enclave was reluctant but complied boarding the Vertibirds and flying away. Ulysses cloaked the Raven as they made their way into the base.

John ran through the base's hallways, arriving at the armory. It was massive. It must have been as tall as the hangar but at least a mile wide. From where he was looking he could see nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and the bio-weapons that had ravaged the New Vegas Confederacy. _This ends here._ He thought. John ran down the stairs from the catwalk he was on. He arrived down at the massive housing shelves for all their weapons. He could see shelf upon shelf with labels on the cases and canisters on them. Artillery shells, tank rounds, fusion batteries. Even White Phosphorus canisters were mounted on the shelves. He looked at the opposite end of the shelves near him were five nuclear warhead yet to be mounted for firing purposes. Having not brought the Laser Detonator, he had to improvise. Opening a panel on the closest war head, he began to rig the firing mechanism, arming the bomb for twenty minutes and removed the kill switch. The bomb was going to go off whether they tried to stop them or not.

"Well, I never thought you'd have the courage to attack." An all too familiar voice said from behind. John cringed at the very sound of his voice. He got up and turned to see Preacher. "You've not only killed dozens of my men and Director Hyde, but you have the audacity to steal our work and destroy our home?" Preacher asked, sadistically. John grabbed his pistol and opened fire on the monster. The bullets bounced off of his armor like they were rubber. "Pathetic shot." He said.

"I didn't kill Hyde, his superior did." John said, stalling for time trying to wait till Ulysses and Cassidy reached him.

"Oh, I know, I ensured it when I gave him the Advisor. Utopia… HA! Hyde may have commanded our spies and day to day operations, but I report directly to Orion." Preacher said, confidently. John slowly shifted to a nearby shelf.

"And who exactly is Orion?" John asked, reaching for a Turret.

"Sorry, but your time for answers is over." As he prepared to charge, bullets raced into his back pelting him in the damaged spots from his encounter with the Raven. Preacher turned and looked up, seeing Ulysses and Cassidy opening fire. John dove for the turret, picking it up like a rifle thanks to his incredible strength. He opened fire the shear sound of the turret would deafen normal men. Its massive bullets raced by the Preacher's immense armor. Several shots nailed him, going straight through his mechanical arms. The sheer size and force of the bullets were moving like battering rams at the Preacher, but while it was damaging him, it wasn't slowing him down. He ran forward at John, revealing a Vertibird blade in his right hand. Running forward, he slashed the shelves and nearly hit John who ducked out of the way at the last minute. The canisters were falling off the shelves as grenades and explosives littered the floors as a dense white substance hit the ground around him. The turret continued to fire when it ran out of ammo. He threw it at the Preacher, who slashed it in half. He dodged another swing by the blade as Cassidy locked onto the blade with his sniper rifle. Firing full force, the energized bullets tore the Preacher's armor apart bursting on impact with force and power. The Preacher was staggered and with a ferocious kick john knocked him back into the white substance. He ran over Preacher who had sustained massive injuries from Cassidy's bullets which had gone through his armor and detonated inside the armor causing superficial damage. With him lying there helpless, the Courier read the label from the canister that he had fallen on: White Phosphorus. John reloaded his 9mm. pistol and aimed it at grenade that had fallen near. The Preacher looked up at him his face partially revealed to them. It was large, lumpy, wrinkled, and scarred. He looked at him, look down, and back again. Filled with fear he said one word: "Please…"

John ignored his cry for mercy, saying only one thing: "This is for Primm." He fired on the grenade. It exploded igniting the White Phosphorus and burning the Preacher in a slow painful death. His screams of nightmarish pain and misery were relished and enjoyed by the Courier before he, Ulysses, and Cassidy started running. Racing through the empty halls they shot several more soldiers. The timer was ticking down. They ran into the hangar and onto the Raven. ED-E responded with Ulysses order and lifted off, the whole team on board. The clock near zero, the put the pedal to the metal and fled in an echo of the Idaho incident. Fleeing the Spearhead on a course back to New Vegas, they ran like a bat out of hell.

The intensity of the blast nearly destroyed everything for miles. Towns and cities, caves and plains, almost the whole state was annihilated in a massive thermonuclear explosion. the blast was fueled not only by the bomb but all the artillery and weapon systems inside. Whether the means had justified the ends, Supremacy One, at least for the moment, was defeated.


	15. The End of the Beginning

Thanks to all who read and supported this story over the time i wrote it.

Special thanks go to CyberJordan for the advice you gave me, that truly helped me a lot, keep writing your stories they are incredible.

This was huge for me as my first fanficition, and the reviews and advice was highly appreciated. During that time when I had writers block I tried to write other stories but then just got overwhelmed. This may be the end of this story but their will be more. Thanks to you all so very much and for now, goodbye.

* * *

Chapter 15

The End of the Beginning

The flight back to New Vegas was a quiet ride. While they should have been celebrating, they didn't feel happy, they felt exhausted. They had faced down an enemy that seemingly knew them better then they knew themselves. Yet in the end Supremacy One was still an enigma. They were an enemy that treated every single lifeform the wasteland like it was expendable and worthless, but when confronting Director Hyde, John only learned that Supremacy One's ideal rotated around a Utopia. That didn't seem the case when the voice, Orion as Preacher called it, had cared much about that at all. He had executed one of his own Directors and for what? They went into that base expecting to come out with answers, it had turned out they had left with even more questions. At that moment though it didn't matter, they had won, and that was all that mattered.

Arriving back in the city, he rushed into the Lucky 38 and placed the cure in the command console, and the machine Raul built lit up. Huge vents rose from the roof top of the Lucky 38 flooding the wasteland with a white cloud. Suddenly the infected snapped out of their rage and insanity. Feeling light headed at first, they stumbled out of their daze and felt a sense of freedom. It was true; the Courier had saved them again.

Later that day, John called Cass up from the casino below where they were holding a ceremony. She came up smiling whiskey in hand; she looked at John who smiled back.

"Well you want to give this another go?" She said, moving her hands around her waist.

"Gladly…" he said putting his hand on her arm pushing down the whiskey. "… But first, there's someone you should see." Checkmate! He yelled. The masked checkered man walked into the room. He looked at Cass, and he began to choke up.

"Cassidy…" he mumbled.

"Sorry who are you?" She asked. He took of his mask, and John Cassidy's face stared her down. Cass was speechless. Where John expected anger shock or even gunfire, all he saw was the Cassidy's locked in position. What happened next was completely unexpected.

"Cassidy, I'm sorry I…" before John Cassidy could finish his sentence, Cass had her arms wrapped around him and she was bawling.

"I know… I know…" she said continuing to bawl. "I'm just glad your back." She said, looking at him tears in her eyes. Suddenly, John Cassidy broke into tears as well.

"I'm here to stay…" he said. She let go of him and asked him to sit down. Cassidy replied. Before they moved, John cut in.

"I'll give you some time." He said, softly. He walked over to the elevator and took it up to the cocktail lounge. There he sat on the table that over looked the southern Mojave. He heard the elevator click shut, and turned around to see Ulysses walking forward.

"Your party downstairs appears to be going well, though it probably would be even better with its host." Ulysses said, sitting down at the table with him, placing two glasses down and a bottle of Absinthe.

"I thought you didn't drink?" He asked. He looked at Ulysses who did something he never thought he'd see: he took his breathing mask off. This was the first time he saw Ulysses full face. It had a thick five o' clock shadow, wrinkled features, and nose.

He poured some absinthe. "There's a lot about me you don't know, but maybe we can talk about it sometime." He said. He passed the glass and the Courier gulped it. "Come on. You seem down, don't be, we won." Ulysses said with a smile on his face.

John looked at him, seriously. "Perhaps we've won or perhaps we've lost." John said. "I already told you about Orion. What he said worries me." John said. "He spoke of things that we had no knowledge of until we robbed the data base. Yes-Man is still sorting through that. He mentioned something called the Silhouette Board and something else called The Faction. I think the first one is Supremacy One's command. It would make sense, seeing how to them this is all tests and games. But the other one… The Faction as he called it…" John got up from his seat and looked out at the desert. "It seems like there are other players in this game, Ulysses." John said, worriedly.

"Which means?" Ulysses asked.

"It means this war isn't over. It's only just begun."

_**And so the Courier who had cheated death and done the impossible time and time again, once again came to the rescue of the Mojave Desert, and the legendary city he called home.**_

_**The cure had been successful wiping out the Wraith-Plague and all traces of it. It even granted immunity to all forms of life. The cure had reached the NCR and Caesar's Legion, seemingly spreading across all of America. The mysterious white cloud may have meant nothing to the rest of the country, but it meant everything to the southwest. **_

_**Word of the destruction of the Spearhead spread quickly, and the world quickly shuddered when it heard that the Courier had defeated Supremacy One. People began to abandon their nations and ideals out of fear that the Courier would destroy them. The stories of the Courier grew beyond just the southwest. Travelers, Caravans, and even Deserters left the southwest following the Courier's attack on the Spearhead, a story that would become known as Raven's Run. Some left out of fear, some left out of a need to have those same adventures, and some just wandered alone. This story and all of the other stories of the Courier's adventures, spread to all parts of the former United States, though some regarded them as mere tall tales, everyone in the west knew the truth.**_

_**In the weeks following the Spearhead's destruction, Ulysses moved all resources, people, and technology from Chicago into the Divide. There, he and John Cassidy were sworn in as the new president and general of the Enclave. His first order: Join the New Vegas Confederacy. After they joined, a small colony formed in the Divide, sanctioned by the Confederacy and founded by Ulysses. They named the colony: New Hopeville. There, Ulysses reformed the Enclave into a group he called the Old World Guard. This group would act as a secret service hunting down all Supremacy One Agents in the Mojave and transforming the Confederacy into a blind spot for Supremacy One's Intelligence Network.**_

_**Caesar's Legion remained largely unaffected by Supremacy One. They remained secure and standing, for some reason no bombs were set off near Flagstaff. Lanius still sat on his throne, waiting for the day he would spill blood over Hoover dam once more. He waited for his battle with the Courier.**_

_**While the Confederacy and Legion remained strong, rebuilding and refortifying, Supremacy One proved to be the last nail in the NCR's coffin. They had lost so much of their economic and territorial power already to the Confederacy as well as many good men who died in the Legion War; they no longer had the resources to rebuild. Anarchy reigned over the southern half of the republic's territory no longer contained by the NCR's forces, riots and death provoked the NCR's rangers to throw salt in the wounds when they dissolved the pact holding the desert rangers to the NCR. The entire force of desert rangers and all there special combat armor and weapons, defected over to the New Vegas Confederacy. With the NCR collapsing at the seams, only the original NCR rangers were left to keep the peace. That, however, was coupled with the rise of a mysterious figure known simply as The Major. The Major spread rumors that perhaps the New Vegas Confederacy had ordered the attacks and within three months after Supremacy One had their reign of terror, the New California Republic collapsed following a military **__**Coup d'état led by the Major and an extremist sect of military soldiers, who killed Moore and the entire NCR Political Staff. The NCR burned, and in its place the fiery, totalitarian, Revolutionist Federation formed.**_

_**The Revolutionist Federation was a scourge of the wastes. It brutally took over almost all towns in the ruins of the NCR; those that submitted were spared the destruction, those that defied them were slaughtered. These monsters didn't care about peace; they were built on a foundation of blood. All people in it were born in the NCR and had never left. This new power shut the borders to the Confederacy and the Courier was forced to sit by and do nothing as all the people who had been outside the former republic and had returned or had relatives outside were killed in public executions. The Major created so much propaganda against the Confederacy, that his people genuinely hated all those who weren't pure-blooded NCR. While the Courier always united with the best of people, the Major took the worst. His military was filled with zealots, murderers, racial purists, thieves, and all sorts of other scum. His regime was on a collision course with the Courier and sure enough, before the year was out, an attack was carried out on New Reno and war was declared. **_

_**And War, War Never Changes.**_


End file.
